Student Council Tries New Kind of Resolutions

 In honor of the new year, Student Council had teachers across the high school pick a word they hope will describe their upcoming year. 

The idea for the teacher word of the year came from Student Council Advisor Joyce Marbuger, but she got the idea from Guidance Assistant Tara Wilson.

Wilson said that she wanted a new way to incorporate new year’s resolutions into one word. 

Student Council originally proposed to have the students do the activity. However, they were concerned that students might use inappropriate language. 

They decided to have the staff do the activity in the end because they wanted the students to see what the faculty wanted to work on throughout the new year.

Student Council Secretary Gabrielle Williams stated that they wanted teachers to start the year off on a good note and to hopefully spark a class discussion with their students about positive starts to the new year.

It’s not surprising that art teacher Alex Bastian chose the word “Perspective.” He notes he chose it because in the art world perspective can shift from a 2-Dimensional image to a 3-Dimensional one.

He chose a word with a double meaning because he also wants to focus on his own perspective on life.

English teacher Jenna Ritter chose “Balance”. She hopes people see her word and take time to balance their lives and not overwork themselves. 

Balance is also a small resolution she made for herself, to try not to overstress and to take time for herself. 

Similarly, biology teacher Robert Bushman III chose the word “Peace” in order to get out of his own head regarding things he cannot control.

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He said he hopes that the word “peace” reminds students and staff members to think about what kind of mindfulness they are using and to be conscious of the peace they bring to others. 

Still, other teachers chose words based on different criteria. 

English teacher Abrianna Wohlfeil chose the word “Honesty”. She chose the word because she believes that students need to be more honest with their teachers and she respects honesty from the people she is talking to.  

Some chose words based on personal teaching goals, such as French teacher Shayne Joyce. His word is “Cognizant”. He said he wants to personally remember or be aware that students have more in their lives happening outside the walls of his classroom. 

Other teachers, like English teacher Ed Smith, chose a word simply because they thought it was interesting. “Enantiodromia”, which means the tendency to change things to their opposites. 

Smith stated, “It exists because it needs to” explaining that there is no other word in the English language that shares this meaning. 

Typically, Student Council conducts spirit weeks, fundraisers,

and decorating for events, but Williams stated that Student Council conducted this activity because they wanted to branch off and try something different for the new year.