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NEVC board hears students' requests
Nevada Daily Mail
Four junior students presented speeches to the North Eastern Vernon County School Board about how the district could make the school better for its students.
Haley Elliot, Calvin Tabor, Jadyn Bogart and Andrew Purchase each presented persuasive speeches written in Shelli McGrath's English class. The students were assigned to write a persuasive speech to help the school board know of their concerns for the school. The topics included, additional sports added to the schools athletics program, snacks to be sold to the students between class periods, sugary drinks to be purchased at school and for juniors to be allowed to enroll in work-study programs.
Tabor spoke first about snack foods being purchased between class periods at NEVC. Tabor told the board healthy snacks "like Doritos" are crucial in providing energy to students throughout the school day.
"Let's face it, some snacks are healthy," Tabor said. "Not all snacks contain high levels of empty calories, sugars, sodium. Not all snacks are greasy, salty and will cause you to die young."
Tabor requested the board think about allowing a food cart to be put out between class periods to help students who are "insanely hungry and don't have anything to eat."
Board member Gina Ensor asked Tabor where money for start up costs would come from to purchase a cart and snacks. Tabor said he did not know. She also asked him if there was a teacher who would be willing to run the snack shop. Tabor said McGrath had agreed to run the shop. McGrath confirmed.
During the principal's report, high school principal, Chris Hudson, told the board she had been emailing back and forth with the students. Hudson said she had told Tabar there was no reason healthy snacks could not be sold at school. Teachers sell Pop-Tarts to students for $1.50 a pack, Hudson said.
Purchase spoke next to the board about work-study programs for juniors.
Using a Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, quote, "The best way to learn about anything is by doing it," Purchase told the board work-study programs would help students learn better because they would be getting to do tasks instead of reading about them.
Purchase said juniors should be able to have a work-study program like the seniors. He then talked about an imaginary NEVC student named Peter who lived in a family of six with a single mother. Because his mother was single and had to afford a life for her five children, Purchase suggested he work.
"Peter's mother works at an animal shelter and has to provide for the entire family. Peter feels really bad for his mother. So he drops out of school to get a job," he said.
Purchase said work-study programs are good for juniors because it could keep them in school because they are able to earn money while getting an education.
Chris Hudson said during the principal's report she would be open to allowing the juniors to have a work-study program, but seniors currently have not been taking advantage of the option. One worry she had for juniors is a scheduling conflict because many of the important classes they need for graduation are available only in the afternoon.
Bogart spoke to the board about sugary drinks being sold throughout the school day. Suggesting the water from the water fountain tasted like "metal water," she said students wanted more options than water and milk, which is served for lunch.
"Hot chocolate is a drink we would love to have," she said. "It's close to Christmas, and it is cold out side. This would then help get people woke up and get people into the holiday spirit too." She then reminded the board of dark chocolate's antioxidants that can help the brain function. She told the board the students wanted to be sold coffee in the morning because it "has the right amount of caffeine" to help students get through the day.
Hudson responded to this speech during her principal's report by saying, this was the one speech with which she had a problem.
"Teenagers are sloppier than little kids," she said. Hudson also said the government allows just one serving of juice to be to sold to students during lunch, and NEVC stopped selling those because the small can was more expensive than students were willing to pay.
Ensor asked if students could bring a can of soda or juice from home. Hudson said NEVC High School is a "water only" school.
Elliot presented her topic about adding sports to the athletic program. She said she and her group sent out a survey to the majority of the school. The results came back suggesting students would like to have football, track and soccer added to their schools athletic program. Students, Elliot said, were still willing to participate in the sports currently offered as well.
"Kids who are active in sports have healthier body weights and are more confident."
Hudson and the board discussed Elliot's presentation. Multiple members agreed with Hudson the school would not mind having more sports available, but because of finances and school population, the school would not be able to do anything about additional sport programs.
In other business, Hudson discussed the amount of special seating. She said currently the school has a surplus of plush chairs, and they want to put about five of these "primary" seats on the visitors side of the bleachers, so visitors could purchase seats for $10 a game. Hudson said she and superintendent Charles Naas had talked about seeing if other area schools would be interested in buying chairs.
Board member Connie Gerster told the board they were fortunate this season because they had a lot of home games to make money off the seats set up for games in the school's gymnasium. Next season NEVC will have fewer home games.
The next board meeting, Jan. 21, NEVC school board will discuss its annual audit.