The View From Here: Student Life

Picture this: just one folding chair remains. Two students face off in a battle of wills, reflexes, and old fashioned luck. An electric guitar shreds in the background as they circle, they fake, they stare each other down, and they dream of the ultimate prize: Coyote Cup victory. When the music stops, it’s all over, and the crowd goes wild: a nail biter win for the sophomores! 

Yesterday’s Community Meeting (our first one in the gym in a year and a half!) was one of those Student Life triumph moments: a totally epic game of Musical Chairs (with live music from teacher Daniel Reiter). Even behind the masks, you could tell that everyone was smiling, laughing, and cheering. But Student Life goes beyond the “fun stuff” like games, retreats, dances, and snacks during finals week. At the heart of our work is a commitment to student wellbeing. We strive to create an atmosphere of trust and safety, where all students can feel joy and have fun. But equally important is building an honorable community where students can be supported in learning and growing from their mistakes.

When I was a math teacher, I admit that I was a little more judgy about the missteps that students make. When I became an Honor Dean at SA, I learned a lot about the lives of students outside of my classroom, with their peers and at home. It was valuable to understand that many Honor Code violations are complex, and that there are many shades of grey in school discipline cases, when I came into my role as Dean of Student Life three years ago. 

Dealing with student conduct issues is often challenging, never simple, but ultimately very rewarding. In recent years, our approach to discipline has evolved from a more judicial approach to a Restorative Justice model. Using these practices, the focus shifts from “you messed up, and here are the consequences” to “here is the harm that you’ve done, and this is how it felt. Now how can we all work together to make this right and move forward?” These conversations can be difficult, but this is one of the ways in which we do the hard work of building a positive and caring school culture. 

We have made other changes over the last year or so to create a more comprehensive, collaborative Student Life program. The most important change was the addition of the absolutely phenomenal Jasmine Wingard-Koman, our Student Activities Coordinator. Jasmine came on board last fall with an impossible task: create opportunities for student connection...while we were still in distance learning, with no end in sight. Of course, she rose to the occasion, and she has quickly become an essential member of our team with her knack for making pretty much everything fun. 

This year, Jasmine and I have been working with our senior student leaders to envision a more collaborative approach to student life programming and policies. This year’s senior class is packed with maturity, talent, and wisdom, and they lead by example, showing younger students what our school culture is all about. Their perspectives have been crucially important as we make some needed changes to the culture of our school community. 

The challenges of the past year have given us some opportunities to reexamine and reset, taking a closer look at what really works and what doesn’t. It feels like a time of promise and possibility. After a year and a half of distance and discord, it feels pretty amazing to have moments of community and connection together again. That Community Meeting in the gym felt a little bit closer to normal, and that is what I am most looking forward to this year: more cheers, more laughter, and more normality.