A Special Community Meeting on Campus
June 11, 2019
At last week’s Community Meeting at Latham School, aspiring student leaders spoke about why they should serve as members of the Student Government. Their speeches were a special part of the monthly Community Meeting – an hour-long event our students look forward to. Each month, staff honor students (and fellow staff) who have had an impact or made incredible strides in the past month. At the June meeting, recognitions were followed by new achievements – more than 20 students took to the podium to discuss what being on the Student Council would mean to them. Katrina Fryklund, our Director of National Outreach, shared highlights of the Wednesday afternoon school community event:
First, the staff started with awards. Two new students, Mikey and Scott, were both stars for the day. Mikey won the Math Award and Vocational Skills Award, while Scott won the Nursing and Clinical’s “Sweat Band Award.” A third new student, Hannah, was recognized for an academic award and was brought to tears from the applause of her new peers.
Next, Chelsea Crowe, Clinician, honored three suites for their work on a new project called Energy Detectives. This first-time project focused on a Positive Behavioral Approach to care and “energy checks.” In this project, a visual was created for each student to identify where his or her energy level is, and to recognize the feeling of different energy levels.
Finally, and with much energy, students running for Student Council each presented for one minute in front of their peers, explaining why he or she would make a good student leader at Latham School. Ballots were handed out in suites after the Community Meeting, and each student was able to vote for their favorite candidates. Quotes from several of the student presentations follow:
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Chloe: “Please vote for me, I’ll listen to you and respond to try to make everything better!”
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Daniel: “Please vote for me for student council. I want to help people out.”
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Hassan: “I want to spread peace and kindness, and if you need help, you should vote for me!”
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Jake: “I’m kind, friendly, and smart; please vote for me.”
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Ryan: “Positive attitudes will breed success. If you are positive around others, then they’ll be positive for you. I have friends at Latham. I want to help. How else can you fill somebody’s buckets?”
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Tiffany: “I want to make a change and difference in the Latham community.”