By Anneliese Duong
The Student Spotlight, first implemented this school year, showcases students who are working hard in weekly morning announcements.
Assistant Principal of Activities and Athletics Kelly Skon worked with ASB to come up with ideas that would encourage students to be active in their classes. Teachers, coaches, advisors and staff can recognize Barons based on their participation in class.
“This idea came about [and] there is a [G]oogle form that all teachers, coaches, advisors and staff have access to,” Skon said. “They give us the student’s name, ID number and a sentence or two of why they wanted to highlight that student.”
The traits that stand out to many of the FVHS staff include students answering questions for classmates, showing up to every meeting with their camera on or engaging with their classmates in breakout rooms.
The little things go a long way. Something as simple as saying good morning or turning on your camera is what teachers notice and appreciate!
What makes the Student Spotlight so great is that there is no limit to how many names can be submitted. With so many names being spotlighted, many students are eager to see their name on one of the flyers, which are shared in both the FVHS morning announcements and on ASB’s Instagram story @fvasb.
“We try to spotlight about ten each week, and if we get more than that, we spotlight their names the following week,” Skon said.
After the students’ names are featured, an email is sent out to them individually and explains why their name was highlighted and who nominated them.
Featured in one of October’s student showcases, freshman Hannah Park saw the idea as a great incentive for students to participate and put in more effort into their school work/classes.
“After I saw my name on the Student Spotlight list, I definitely felt very excited,” Park said. “[The Student Spotlight] is the perfect way to recognize someone for their day-to-day efforts… as it renews the winners’ motivation to keep working hard, as well as encouraging others to do the same.”
As teachers and students are all working together to make distance learning less dull, the Student Spotlight is a great way for students to be more active and potentially reduce the awkwardness during Zoom meetings.
“Having the opportunity to spotlight a few students each week is awesome and something we hope is a new tradition at FVHS,” Skon said.
