These students hit a grand SLAM in the leadership and mentoring categories.

A new class, called SLAM (Student Leaders in Action and Mentoring), will be offered for students with academic success and school involvement.

SLAM is a leadership class that will be offered next school year. Science teacher, Amanda Bohnert will be in charge of teaching the new class, but there will be support from other teachers around the school. The goal for SLAM class is to encourage more student involvement throughout school events and activities.

It will combine mentoring and peer intervention support with the student congress. SLAM will not be available until the start of school next year since the applications are due May 12 and interviews will follow that on the days of May 18 and 19.

The participants of the class include current congress members who were given the opportunity to apply along with current mentoring students. The application process was extended to students who were nominated by staff and teachers for their potential leadership abilities as displayed in their classes. This class allows students to have leadership and be able to plan school events. For example, these participants will be in charge of the eighth grade/incoming freshmen events, which include orientation and school tours.

SLAM has been a class in the works for sometime. School administration wanted to expand this program to include more congress-like duties and planning events. Bohnert will be the teacher for the class, but there is a small committee of teachers who are helping with structure and support. These teachers include Lauren Battcher, Erica Capito and April Walker.

The goal of SLAM is to create more student involvement throughout the school and also strengthen the school spirit. It is designed for students to reflect on their performance and continue to grow as leaders by learning from their own mistakes and others success. “This class will push out student body to excel in school, to get out of their comfort zones and be okay with standing out instead of fitting in,” said junior Vice President of congress, Marlene Michel.

“We are in need of a consistent governing body of students who have time to meet as a group to plan effectively,” said Bohnert. She continued to speak about how our school’s students need peer mentors and people of their age to talk in order to “reach out to for help instead of going straight to a counselor.”

SLAM is going to be a full-year class instead of an after-school club to help accommodate the busy schedules of many of the members. Doing an after-school club and being dedicated to it can be hard on some students with sports, other clubs and work. Bohnert and the rest of the committee, along with the members of the class, decided to make it a class instead of an after-school club so that there will be more attendance and more time to get work done. “We wanted to ensure that all students in the group had dedicated time carved into their schedule to be the most efficient in planning and mentoring,” said Bohnert. By the end of next school year, some students could be leaving the building with many leadership skills under their belt, preparing them for their future in college and the workforce.