A sophomore at MCHS walks into their chemistry class and sees one of the guidance counselors at the front of the room. After the bell rings, the counselor introduces himself along with the panorama survey.
Most grade levels throughout the district take surveys every semester that help the administrators better gauge where their school falls on a variety of topics, one of those being a sense of belonging. These surveys revealed MCHS has a relatively low percentage for students feeling a sense of belonging.
However, when compared only to other schools in the nation, MCHS falls in the 70th percentile. This means that MCHS is in the average to high average range for how many students feel a sense of belonging, which is much higher than many other high schools.
The teacher project called “Project Belonging” has contributed to MCHS’s positive environment.
This project aims to have first year teachers be more engaged with their students, whether it’s a greeting at the door, or doing a daily check-in. These strategies have shown immense success in the statistics according to MCHS psychologist Eric Born. This project has not only involved teacher contribution, but students as well.
This has helped create a positive atmosphere within MCHS.
Over the summer, staff and administration look at these surveys and see what they can do for the students to boost their confidence and self-efficacy.
“So those are two areas that are building leaders,” says Born. “As administration, as teachers, we might look over the summer on how we can maybe weave these concepts or ideas into certain divisions or lessons to maybe boost students in this capacity.”
Even though most of our panorama surveys show low scores, it’s due to the different emotions that high school and elementary school brings.
“We’re comparing ourselves against millions of students across the nation all the way between third grade and high school.” says Born. “If you can remember back to like elementary school and middle school, most of the time, school is exciting. So [Elementary school students] tend to rate their school experience more favorably. When we get older, we tend to be a little bit more negative about that experience.”
MCHS students have been reporting each semester they feel like they belong more and more within the school environment.
To those of you who haven’t found yourselves belonging at MCHS, according to the MCHS website our school has over 80 clubs and activities you could find yourself in.
Every year, Student Activities Director Mitch Stengel is always bringing new clubs based off of what students and staff have suggested over past school years. For the upcoming school year, we have three new clubs: Engineering Club, Polish Society and Yoga Club, so there is something for everyone.
Overall, even though students sometimes don’t feel like they belong in highschool, based on the research from Born and the opportunities provided, MCHS is the place to find who you want to be.