Senior Leadership Class
At CCHS some of our fellow seniors have recently been visiting other classes to educate our students about bullying and how to prevent it, as well as things to do to prepare for college. The goal of this movement is to prevent bullying and better prepare our students for their futures.
Some of the things mentioned in our seniors' speeches were topics such as KEES (Kentucky Educational Excellence Program) money, FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and KHEAA (Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority) work-ready scholarships. Programs like these can be achieved by having high academic grades and a high score on the ACT. These programs can give students up to thousands of dollars towards their colleges if they are in the state of Kentucky. To qualify for the KEES money, students must get good grades (the closer the GPA to 4.0 the more money earned with a maximum of $500), and a bonus is applied of $500 for a score of over 25 on the ACT. Therefore, if a student gets good grades, they have the potential to earn up to $2500 towards a Kentucky college of his or her choice.
Students, to qualify for FAFSA money, you must fill out an online application of various questions to determine if you meet the requirements to earn money for your college. The KHEAA is a program that allows your school to pay for up to three dual-credit courses per year. This can be used by anyone that meets the requirements of taking a dual-credit course and can save hundreds of dollars from college debt. Any extra classes over three per year will cost money from the student's pocket. These programs can be used to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars from college debt and can be accessed by all students who meet their requirements.
During these visits, seniors also discussed recent events of bullying and violence within the high school. At CCHS, bullying is not as intense of an issue as other schools or areas of our community, but that does not mean that it is not still a significant issue. Bullying can negatively impact everyone’s life who it touches, and that is a key reason our administration at CCHS wants to try to put a stop to it. One attempt to curtail bullying is to have our Leadership CCR class talk to other classes about bullying and ways to prevent it.
Mr. Smith pioneered this idea, but he chose Mrs. Fritsche to put it into action. Mrs. Fritsche stated, “This was started in response to some scores that our school received and feedback from those scores.” Previously, students took a survey on bullying. Based on data from these test scores, administrators chose areas to improve culture and to prevent bullying according to student feedback. According to Mrs. Fritsche, students were chosen to talk about this subject because, “The hope is that students will listen to one another more than a YouTube video or a teacher talking. Sometimes you learn best from your peers.” Listening to students in our own classes can help us understand the issues and know that they are a real problem in our school.
Our students and administrators at CCHS are attempting to make the future of students brighter by helping make their time here as safe and enjoyable as possible. Some of the few ways this has been attempted is by the students informing other students about ways to keep our school safe, and ways to make their own futures brighter.
