One result of our budget cutting process last spring was the loss of an administrative position from the middle school. Carol Sinotte, a wonderful individual, had served in the role of Activities Director and special education lead teacher for us at that site for the past several years. Carol retired at the end of the year, and we attempted to “absorb” her responsibilities by assigning them to Assistant Principal Steve Huberty. While Steve already did a great job in a very full time position, by shuffling some of his responsibilities to others in the middle school--Principal Larry Stracke included--we have been able to make it all work.
Steve Huberty is this week’s guest columnist. He shares with readers some of the adventures of his new role as Activities Director. Steve writes:
This has been an exciting school year for me thus far with the addition of Middle School Activities Director to my duties. Exciting because I’m able to interact with students in a totally different part of their life--after school activities involving athletics and fine arts. I have also been able to work with our staff in their coaching and advising responsibilities. I have loved to coach throughout my life, but with the change to administrative duties a bunch of years ago, this was made much more difficult. As Middle School Activities Director, I can watch our students in action and interact with a tremendous coaching and advising staff! As a spectator at our student events, I am privileged to cheer and converse side by side with our parents, guardians, and other family members. It is always enjoyable to see the proud looks on these faces during an event in which their children are participating.
Most of the responsibilities and duties of the SRRMS Activities Director position have been efficiently--and expertly--created and organized by both of my predecessors: Carolyn Garvin and Carol Sinotte, both of whom have retired from our district. Their tireless energy level and commitment to creating a top notch middle school program has made my job that much easier. I am grateful for their efforts and feel privileged to be able to continue what they have done for the SRRMS activities programs which have been growing each and every year.
Well over half of our 7th and 8th graders participated in after school activities this past fall and, although 6th graders can not participate in school sponsored athletics, many participate in co-curricular activities such as Knowledge Bowl, Speech, Drama, Art Club, and Science Club, just to name a few. Research has overwhelmingly shown that children who participate in athletics or co-curricular activities take a greater interest in school, achieve higher grades, and ultimately improve overall.
These activities build character and teach lifelong skills, both socially and recreationally. According to researcher Rachel Hollrah, students participating in extra and co-curricular activities “learn character building lessons that they can apply to their study habits and to their lives. Activities such as athletics, music, theater, and organizations teach students how to discipline themselves through drills, practices, or rehearsals.” Since these activities take time from the normal day, students learn organizational and time management skills to plan their time wisely and efficiently. Students learn problem solving skills to successfully compete and/or perform. Try typing in “extracurricular activities and student achievement” as a Google search on the internet and you will find thousands of hits on this subject. The internet is also a great place to find out more about us for there is a link to our activities schedules on the district website at www.isd47.org. Please feel free to come out and see the wonderful things our students are doing in their extracurricular and co-curricular activities.
As stated previously, I have had an exciting year thus far as the SRRMS Activities Director, but the absolute best residual from this position has been the positive reactions I have received from our students. I have always been a person who greets our students throughout the building and, in most cases, I am greeted in return. Rarely does a day go by but when I’m the first one greeted by one of our students. “Hi Mr. Huberty,” I’ll hear from behind me. Now that is a great feeling!