Clarke Central High School Principal Marie Yuran speaks to seniors attending the first of the “Champion Chats,” a series of four meetings in which Yuran will meet with students from each grade level and listen to their ideas on how to improve the school. “Really what we wanted to do was just give students the opportunity to come together and talk about Clarke Central and really how we could possibly make your experience, or the experience for future gladiators, a better experience,” Yuran said. Photo by Ana Aldridge.
Co-written by ANA ALDRIDGE – Junior Copy Editor and LUIS GARCIA – News Staffer
The Clarke Central High School administrators held their first “Champion Chat” with seniors on Sept. 26. in the Lecture Hall.
Clarke Central High School Principal Marie Yuran, Associate Principal Amanda Gorham and Assistant Principals Dr. Sheila Dunham and Reginald Thomas met with four CCHS seniors in the first of their “Champion Chats” on the morning of Sept. 26.
“Champion Chats” are a series of four meetings being held by the administrative team where they receive feedback from students in each grade level about how CCHS can be improved.
“I had the chance this summer to go to a conference with other principals from all over the country and one of the themes there (was) ‘How do we engage student voice?’ So we talked about how we can give opportunities for student voice on a variety of issues because we’re always looking at how to grow and how to be better at what we do,” Yuran said.
Among the topics discussed in the meeting were improving school lunch, organizing a senior class trip and overcrowding in the hallways. Yuran hopes to take action on some of the issues presented by seniors in the meeting.
“Well, I think it’s great feedback about the cafeteria and the food for sure,” Yuran said. “I had not thought about the vegetarian option, and I thought that was a really good point that we have a lot of folks that are vegetarians, and short of just having a salad, some other options would really be appreciated and I think that to me sounds like kind of an easy, quick-fix kind of thing.”
However, Yuran says some ideas discussed would be more difficult to implement.
“I think bigger, great ideas like a senior-sponsored trip or those kinds of things, that’s a great idea but it would take a lot of planning and infrastructure,” Yuran said.
The first “Champion Chat,” which was advertised through the school announcements, posters and by CCHS staff, was attended by a total of four seniors.
“I think not that many people knew about it, because I don’t remember hearing it on the announcements, but I might not have been paying attention, and I think some people thought it wouldn’t be very fun. But it wasn’t that bad,” senior Mea Melnik, an attendee, said.
Yuran says that the low turnout may have been partially due to scheduling conflicts.
“This one may have been a little bit smaller because we did have to reschedule because of Irma, I don’t really know,” Yuran said. “It was kind of hard to find a time too, that’s why we tried to start it a little bit later, hoping most of the buses would be here, that people could trickle in when buses got here if getting here in the morning was a problem.”
The junior “Champion Chat” will be held on Oct. 10, the sophomore “Champion Chat” on Nov. 14 and the freshman on Dec. 12, all lasting from 8:10 to 8:40 a.m. in the Lecture Hall.
“Hopefully we’ll have larger turnouts as people see if it makes a difference to have their voice heard and to be a part of the conversation,” Yuran said.
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