{"id":3903,"date":"2024-04-01T21:03:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T01:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=3903"},"modified":"2024-04-01T21:03:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T01:03:14","slug":"too-cool-for-school-but-not-cool-enough-to-pass-running-one-river-hill-students-run-their-school-for-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/too-cool-for-school-but-not-cool-enough-to-pass-running-one-river-hill-students-run-their-school-for-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Too Cool for School\u2019 but not Cool Enough to Pass Running One? River Hill Students Run their School for a Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sanjana Jain, Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 8th, a select group of River Hill students will have the opportunity and privilege of assuming all responsibilities of River Hill\u2019s administrative, front office, and guidance staff for the school day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This activity is an experiment being conducted by the Howard County Public School System to see the \u201cpreparedness, capabilities, and willingness of a high school\u2019s student body to be able to take charge in the absence of adults,\u201d explained Principal Motley. Although he expressed other methods could have been used \u201clike ensuring each student memorizes HCPSS Student Code of Conduct and testing them on it,\u201d the County seems to wish to take a more lighthearted approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spring break River Hill Student Newsletter, which was published on March 21, Mr. Motley detailed the activity\u2019s application process. \u201cWhen I first read the blurb in the newsletter, I was ecstatic!\u201d shared senior Kayla Garnett. \u201cI could just picture my friends and I running the school for a day – what a way to end our senior year,\u201d she continued. Senior Becca Sirak agreed with Kayla, and stated, \u201cStudents should prepare to have the best school day of their lives if I\u2019m in charge.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Kayla and Becca, not all students received this opportunity with the same optimism. Senior Sapna Joy expressed her feelings of concern: \u201cI\u2019m just worried about River Hill\u2019s student community missing the administrative staff\u2019s vibrant personality for an entire day,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The application process to be a part of this experiment is extensive. First, an applicant has to decide which position they would like to apply for, since they can only choose one. While there are some minute differences in the application based on which position a student selects, the general requirements are the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applicants have to construct extensively detailed responses to 6 questions which cover a variety of topics. However, the question that likely has the highest weightage would be, \u2018Please detail any prior experience you have in school administrative work. This includes serving as a principal, vice-principal, guidance counselor, etc. at any secondary school or higher education institution in the United States. If additional information is necessary to generate a complete response, please provide the contact information for the institution at which you served.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students are required to submit two letters of recommendation: one half-a-page teacher recommendation and one letter a peer of the applicant, like a friend or mentor of the student\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teachers were prompted to detail the student\u2019s ability to receive and solve problems, their usual personality and demeanor in class, and their ability to collaborate with their peers. Student recommenders had more flexibility as to what they could include in their letter, but they were encouraged to provide a unique insight to their peer\u2019s characteristics that perhaps a teacher could not capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Orhan Tasci expressed his agreement with the Board of Education’s decision to ask for a peer letter of recommendation, and stated, \u201cI believe it provides a more intimate insight into who the applicant is as a human being – teachers can be really oblivious and, at times, generalize all students together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students also have to schedule a mandatory interview with Mr. Motley. He explained how during interviews he was \u201creally searching for 3 main characteristics for a student to be considered the best candidate: tenacity, honesty, and a sense of humor.\u201d Student interviews are currently ongoing and will conclude after spring break. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although students will be in charge on April 8th, River Hill\u2019s actual employed administrators and guidance staff will still be in the building to ensure the day operates smoothly. But, they are not allowed to interfere in a situation unless there is an emergency. \u201cWhy that was suggested as a key rule of this activity,\u201d said Mr. Motley, \u201cis so that we can observe how students react in different situations,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He provided the following example: \u201cLet\u2019s say the \u2018Principal\u2019 that day catches a group of students skipping class – what then? Will they be lenient and allow their peers to continue to engage in immoral behavior as a form of rebellion, or will they act according to HCPSS guidelines and ensure those students return to class and apologize to their teacher?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The application is due by 11:59 p.m on April 1st. In the newsletter, it was clearly stated that no extensions will be granted if a student is unable to submit their application by the deadline since this experiment is highly valuable, \u201cand no irresponsible or unqualified students can taint it,\u201d clarified Mr. Motley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sanjana Jain, Staff Writer On April 8th, a select group of River Hill students will have the opportunity and privilege of assuming all responsibilities of River Hill\u2019s administrative, front office, and guidance staff for the school day.  This activity is an experiment being conducted by the Howard County Public School System to see the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[510],"tags":[286,269,211,285,926],"class_list":["post-3903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-satire","tag-journalism","tag-rhhs","tag-river-hill","tag-river-hill-high-school","tag-satire"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3903"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3905,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903\/revisions\/3905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}