Once A PAL, Always A PAL

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Students at Spring Hill were chosen to be part of the leadership program. From the end of the half day on Wednesday to the end of the day on Friday these student will be going through some crash course to teach leadership and people skills. Our counselors send out a survey asking questions about the most common struggles students have had. They also ask for students to put down two people’s names that they feel they are most comfortable to go to with their problems.This list is then analyzed to see who has been mentioned more than a couple of times. Four boys and four girls from each grade are then chosen and asked to accept or deny their invitation, and if they deny an alternate is chosen instead.

It is definitely honoring or faltering to get chosen for pals. Chris Carrel, 9, explained to me what he thought it meant to be able to be a Pals member.

”It means that people think that I’m someone that they can talk to and go to when they have their problems. It means you are someone people perceive as easy to be close with,” Chris commented.

They also aren’t just chosen randomly. They make sure to go through the list and asses if the students meet all of their expectations or not. Katie George, Student counselor, told what qualities are looked for when picking.

“We want a diverse group of kids so we want kids from kind of all the different niches of the school that represent different groups and different activities and things like that. We also want trustworthy kids that you know, that we know will be good listeners that we know are good friends that as far as we know make good decisions, that’s what we want and then academically sound that they are successful in their classes not necessarily straight a’s but a’s b’s and c’s and are going to do okay if they miss a couple days of school,” she clarified.

Any student can be a Pal simply by showing leadership and honorable qualities. Make sure you are always trying to be a good person and if they see someone struggling maybe try to help them out or find some support. The school could use more students who care about making it a better and safe place.