Every day at West, you see lots of kids making unwise decisions. Many times they are caught, and more often than not, they get away with their decisions and continue to make the same mistakes. But you can’t help but wonder, why the students are making choices that they are.
Some of the behaviors seen are the amount of tardies, the fights, smoking on campus, and the violation of the school’s dress code.
The obvious answer to explain the behavior is that students are young and young people make mistakes. But the not-so-obvious answer could be their role models or the people they look up to are influencing them in the wrong direction.
Many students who are “in trouble” in school have a deeper reason than because they are young. It may be their home life or peeer pressure of school life. It’s up to the adults around the building to guide the student or correct that behavior, and be a leader.
Some worry though, that at West the adults in charge are not doing everything they can to enforce the various expectations. Some times, eve, they may say they do, but don’t follow through with the enforcement.
Campus monitor Mr. Joshua Tiffany said he sees these behaviors every day. He gets the hands-on experience of taking students out of class, yelling at kids to wear their IDs, and wearing hats inside the building. He stated his idea of an ideal leader that the school needs. “A good leader is anybody providing purpose, direction, and motivation to an individual or group, and I strongly believe every staff member needs to or should be an example of this,” Tiffany said.
Being a leader for the students in a school is essential. Many students may not realize this either, but from an outside perspective, it is clear that many students need those positive leaders to help guide them in the right direction, or simply do simple actions, such as showing up on time.
Tiffany stated that he thinks all adults in the buiding can take those steps. “Being that person to the students, by being the example of what they grow up to be and be guided in a positive direction, and to do the right thing by showing up in a timely matter and being the person they say they are and live to their standards,” Tiffany said.
West Dean of Students Mr. Valentino Dressler also sees the student’s behavior daily. Dressler wants the kids to become the leaders for themselves. “We need to take ownership of our school. It’s ours and we need to have that pride and show it. You wouldn’t write on your bathroom wall as you do on your school wall. Showing that ownership would also present a leadership element,” Dressler explained.
