Preparing JH students to become tomorrow’s world changers

With junior high growing in numbers, the student leadership class sees the importance of setting a good example for their peers. Before they enter high school, middle school teachers recognize the benefits of building a good foundation of leaders.

In the past eight years of teaching the junior high leadership, Hallie Rojeski’s class mission has been to “Serve the junior high students by planning and implementing social, recreational, educational, and spiritual activities and events while modeling Christ-like behavior.” She strives to set the students up for high school and loves to see them serving their classmates.

“One of my main goals is keeping leadership a Bible class,” Rojeski said. “I really want to encourage service but also teach the students who we are serving for. They like being in the class and all the responsibility that they get in making posters or putting on rallies.

“I help them get organized and throw caution in, but they take responsibility for the events,” Rojeski continued. “They learn a lot about being a student leader by being on the job and taking initiative in their duties.”

Junior high leadership puts on different events that benefit the whole school such as Thursday lunches. $5 lunches from Panda Express, Chick-fil-a, and Wendy’s rotate every three weeks for students to purchase. The money goes towards supporting the junior high’s activities.

Ezekiel Van Noy, ‘23, experiences all the events and activities leadership puts on for the junior high. He enjoys the rallies and sees leadership setting a good example on campus.

“I like the events that the leadership class puts on,” Van Noy said. “During the first rally we played ‘gaga ball’ which was really fun and everyone got involved. The class puts a lot of time into the games which makes them really cool. The leadership sets a good example in helping people out, putting up signs and being kind to others.”

So far this year, the leadership group put on two chapels, two rallies, multiple birthday celebrations and weekly Thursday lunches. They look forward to planning a spring sports rally along with an end of the year luncheon and field day.

Returning to leadership class for the second time this year, Sophia Reynoso, ‘22, takes up new roles as a leader. She enjoys decorating the bulletin board once a month and feels that it is important to serve her student body.

“I felt that God wanted people to guide the junior high into the right direction before high school and I knew I should set an example for my peers,” Reynoso said. “I noticed that this year not many people wanted to take up the role of a junior high leader so I decided to do it. I look up to the high school leadership too, I can see them taking more control of activities and taking initiative with people.”

The junior high leadership class teaches valuable skills that carry students into high school. The high school leadership has different goals than the junior high, and Rojeski strives to prepare her class for those standards.

The class also prepares new-student gift bags filled with a notebook, pencils, candy and a Stuff Mart coupon to welcome new 7th and 8th graders. This year they filled over 30 bags.

As student leadership is also a Bible class, students learn different topics such as who Jesus is and a study of truth. They studied kindness and controlled speech this year, emphasizing the importance of Christ-like behavior.

First time leadership student, Kirra Obwald, ‘23, believes it is important to take a Bible class in leadership. She enjoys the people in her class and applies the qualities of a good leader to her life.

“It’s important to have Bible in leadership because in order to be a good leader, you have to know what makes a good leader,” Obwald said. “There are so many examples in the Bible of what a Godly leader is and it’s been cool to really apply those traits to myself.”

With the incoming 7th grade class anticipating over 60 students next year, Rojeski plans to transition out of her role to invite a new teacher with a fresh vision for the class. As she finishes the year, she continues to prepare her students for the opportunities they will have in high school.

For more articles, check out Join the Discussion: Kids Day 2018 or New bill attempts to prohibit plastic waste.

Addison Schultz can be reached via email: Addison Schultz and via twitter @SchultzAddison.