Photo Credit: Maddie Norwood[/caption]Students aspiring to be leaders of their community, wanting to share their ideas about how the school can be improved, or just hoping to get some more service hours may be interested in joining the Principal Advisory Committee.
The Principal Advisory Committee (PAC), which met for the first time this year on September 26 in Beverly Confer’s room, is a new organization run by OHS Principal Jason Johnson. It will give students a chance to communicate directly with Johnson and share their thoughts and concerns about the school. Anyone can join, and Johnson hopes to meet again sometime in October.
The club will be divided into six committees--the leadership, news, new ideas, fundraising, community events, and school events committees. Each committee will serve a different purpose.
Although similar to the Student Government Association, the PAC allows Johnson to be more involved. He appreciates what the SGA does, but is not “a part of those meetings.” It “gives me a chance to listen,” he stated.
Johnson is starting the club off slowly, but he hopes to have about 200 to 300 members once it becomes established. He would like if “the whole school can become part of the group.”
Senior and SGA President Braden Weber joined the PAC because he hopes it will let “students… have more of a voice [and] OHS… have more of a community outreach. Mr. Johnson has ideas for the school.” He joined the new ideas committee because he wants to “bring new ideas to the table.” He would like to get others to join as well “to broaden the group’s culture” and “create a more culturally diverse group.”
He believes the PAC will have more of a community service focus than the SGA, while the SGA is more about “helping students get what they want.”
Overall, Johnson hopes the advisory committee will show students that administrators care about their concerns. “[I] want them to know we’re listening,” he stated.
The first part of the induction ceremony had two speakers, Kentellia Wingate and Evelyn Deloatch, that introduced the ceremony and talked about the history of the club. The past members of the club were able to speak about what one has to do to be a nice student and be a part of the club. Then, students received certificates from the teachers that inducted them. The new members took an oath to do the best they could in their classes. The principal, Jason Johnson, spoke about the club and ended the ceremony.
The new students that were inducted this year were: Summer Anderson, Bradley Barbee, Kyle Bryant, Chania Caldwell, Ashlynn Church, Collin Cockerham, Stephani Cruz-Vazquez, James Cunningham, Morgan Efland, Sam Ferry, Adam Hackett, Xandria Hughes, De’ja Johnson, Georgia McRae, Mitchell Pittman, Joseph Poole, Lauren Riley, Ethan Roberts, Kentice Robbins, Braden Weber, and Jakayla Wilkins. Caldwell, a new member, said, “I feel it is an accomplishment for you to be qualified. It looks better on your college application and gives you other advantages.”
The students had to be chosen to get into the club. They had to have a 3.0 GPA in their technical classes and they had to be a nice student. To be in the club, members have to keep their 3.0 GPA in the class. National Technical Honor Society can be for anyone who is in a technical class.