September is here and so is the beginning of a new school year. This is such an exciting time as we reconnect with the members of our school community.
Usually my beginning of the year article is about the importance of getting involved and making the most of your school year—not that this isn’t important, but this year, I wanted to share some of my thoughts about the great value in being a part of our school community.
When I think about our school, the first thing that comes to mind is our community. We are part of an incredibly strong school community.
In fact, one of the things that sets our school apart from other schools in our area is the strength of our community.
We have many staff members who graduated from our school, many students whose parents went to school here, and many staff members who have simply worked here for a very long time.
All of this contributes to a really strong sense of community and unity that is really not the norm for most high schools. We look out for and take care of each other.
Case in point—a couple of weeks before the start of school, someone decided it would be funny to create a phony Instagram and Twitter account, posting pictures of some of our students and making some ridiculous, mean, hurtful, AND just plain dumb comments about them.
I was online looking at this account, trying to figure out if there was any connection to current students at MTHS, and as I was doing this, I noticed that many other students, current and former, were going online and posting comments to the creator of this account, letting him/her know this was not acceptable, standing up for the students who were the undeserving targets of this person’s actions.
As you come to school this year, I encourage you to think about this and to consider ways that you can be an active member of our school community.
In this day of social media anonymity and the carelessness with which some people make comments online, this was a perfect example of the kind of school we are—we do not stand for this kind of behavior.
While I can’t prove it, I think the attention this person got from so many members of our school, helped to make the posts stop.
As you come to school this year, I encourage you to think about this and to consider ways that you can be an active member of our school community.
Get involved. Care about each other. If you see someone being treated poorly, say something.
Stand up for one another. Be a student. Go to your classes. Do your work. Respect your teachers and the job they are here to do for you.
Most importantly, know that you are a member of an incredibly special school community. You are a member of Mountlake Terrace High School.
Have a great start to the school year.
Note: The Hawkeye provides the MTHS Administration space each issue in the Op/Ed section as part of our mission as a designated open public forum.
