Looking Back, Moving Forward

Coming back from isolation, Sutton High School principals Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Liporto added and brought back lots of community events used in past school years. Old favorites and new ideas were brought back for the 2022-2023 school year. It is important for students to have an opportunity to connect beyond the classroom and outside school hours, which these events will help with.

Two years prior to last year everyone was on zoom and isolated at home, so they wanted to make sure there were community events for students last year.

Teachers building relationships with students to see what they are struggling with and to better see their situation helps with the students academic future and mental health, which could also affect the students peers or friends as well as the student struggling.  If a student is struggling with something, teachers want to help.

Last year school was almost “normal”, but it was still hard with COVID still being a part of our daily lives. It was challenging if you were a student that had COVID and you were out 5-10 days and had to make up all the work you missed while out sick; if you were a teacher that got COVID and had to come up with lesson plans for the days you were out that was difficult to manage as well.

Plus, the school year started off with masks and it was a struggle for everyone, especially students, as they were expecting to come into school without masks. Starting school again with masks lowered the energy a little, but overall people worked through it and had a good year. 

COVID kept leaving and coming back making it hard for everyone to stick to a schedule, as it was constantly changing. It interrupted the school year with staff and student attendance.

The school’s job is to prepare students for life after high school. That includes academics, writing efficiently, speaking efficiently and thinking critically to manage your own time. Students need to know how to use their time effectively by getting their social needs, and academic needs.

Sometimes adults don’t trust students a lot, and here at our school it’s a space where students are trusted and admin wants to help them be their best selves and grow and change. If students get treated like they are younger and micromanaged by teachers it becomes very challenging for students to grow if they are always relying on adults for everything.    

This school has a system where students are trusted to make the right decision. At SHS teachers believe students can decide themselves what is appropriate for school and what isn’t. Students have a big voice here regarding rules. 

Different lunch and advisory times is a struggle considering students are in the hallway going to lunch or advisory while other students are in class. This is why we have one lunch and one advisory period for all high school students. Also, it’s another opportunity for students to be social with students they might not have classes with or that are in a different grade. If this was a school where we had multiple lunches, if all of your friends are in a different lunch and you’re all alone, that could be a problem, but here having lunch and advisory at the same time means you get to see your friends, socialize, and add another reason to look forward to going to school.

In the next 3-5 years, they want to keep thinking about how to do the best job possible for the students and teachers who learn and work here at Sutton High. The school we have now is not the same school we had 3-5 years ago, and that’s primarily because teachers and students offered suggestions and ideas that have made this school a better place and a nicer environment. Almost all the best ideas that we’ve had in our school come from students working with teachers to make this school a better place, and that’s what they hope to have this school be in the future as well as now.