The 2016-2017 school year began last Monday, August 29. The new school year brought hundreds of new faces to RM, as well as a few new school policies and events.
One event that took place before the school year had even begun was the freshman barbecue, now in its third year. The barbecue took place on Thursday, August 25. All new RM students, including those who are not in the class of 2020, were invited to attend. The event was begun by Mr. Monteleone in his first year as principal at RM as a way for these students and their families to meet each other and learn more about the school community. It is a part of his ongoing effort to build a more community-oriented and inclusive environment at RM.
Mr. Monteleone described the barbecue as a way to “engage our community prior to school starting, especially new families and ninth graders.” In addition to allowing new students and parents to socialize and meet with faculty, the freshman barbecue allows new students to learn about extracurricular opportunities at RM. Many of the school’s clubs and programs advertised their activities and recruited freshmen to join. The freshman SGA booth allowed students to order their class t-shirt as well as pick up SGA officer petitions.
The event has become more popular since its inception at RM. “I know that it’s grown in number, we definitely have more people [attending],” Mr. Monteleone acknowledged. “It’s something that people look forward to now, it’s something that the middle school parents expect.”
Some freshmen and seniors have likely noticed another new set of events being introduced at RM: the freshman and senior Unity Days. The first Senior Unity Day took place last year, as a way for the senior class to bond and get to know other students as well as to celebrate the beginning of their final year at RM. Senior Unity Day will take place this year on September 27.
The first Freshman Unity Day will take place the day after, on September 28. Mr. Monteleone hopes that the pair of events will bring each class closer together in order to build community over their four years at RM. “The more I learn about RM,” he said, “I realize that we have to take every opportunity that we possibly can to have kids make friends in ninth grade that might be outside of their social circle. Maybe those friendships would last, or they could at least become familiar with people early on.”
Part of Mr. Monteleone’s effort to build a more inclusive RM community includes getting student input and feedback on things that go on in the school. One major student-driven change this year can be seen in the updated dress code. “There were specifically these kids Summer Oh, Lisa Hernandez, and a couple other girls and they really said they wanted to do something about the dress code,” he explained.
Of the larger group of students who expressed dissatisfaction over the dress code, he said, “They really latched onto that language about the disruption to the school environment, because that’s the key phrase from MCPS. The argument was brought to me that disruption is a two way street; there has to be a stimulus, and there also has to be somebody who reacts. Just because somebody wears something doesn’t mean that it necessarily has to disrupt the environment.” These ideas can be seen in the new dress code, which was rewritten by seniors Oh and Hernandez to be more fair and equitable for students.
All in all, the recent changes that have come to RM in the past few years reflect the vision Mr. Monteleone has championed for the school: one of unity, cohesion, and a more community-oriented and inclusive environment for all students.
