Sentinel Strong

Despite the many changes in school routines due to Covid, our high school is doing everything it can to provide as normal a school experience as possible. One of those normal things is selecting students of the month and Sentinels of the month. Each month, ten students are selected as students of the month. They can be in any grade and are nominated by a teacher for being outstanding students in one way or another. The two Sentinels of the month are seniors who have excelled in a variety of ways and stand out for having a positive impact within their circles at the school. The entire faculty works together to select the Sentinels each month.

Last week Nathan got called down to the office and although he reacted to that news with trepidation, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he was being honored as one of this school year’s first Sentinels of the Month and not being sent home to quarantine. The principal then proceeded to share with him one of the reasons he was selected. Over the summer, as Nathan was trying to figure out what his school schedule needed to look like, he emailed the physics teacher (whom he had never met) and basically asked her to change the period that AP Physics was taught so he could take the class. Apparently, it became widely known that Nathan has requested a change to the school master schedule so that he could take more math classes. And the school was able to comply which is not only pretty darn amazing but provided a great deal of entertainment value to the faculty. The whole thing made the principal laugh, but in a good way.

This morning Kevin and I were able to attend a small awards ceremony at the school. It was a light breakfast (sack lunch style in a nod to safely handling food in a Covid careful world) where each student was highlighted, given a nice certificate and presented with a 2020-2021 school pin. These particular pins are only given to students who are being honored in some way, so it is kind of a big deal. Nathan also received a small glass trophy (for lack of a better word). Each one of Nathan’s teachers wrote a paragraph about the impact he has had on the school and the reasons he stands out to them. Those comments were all printed on the back of Nathan’s award certificate and it was so fun to read about the person that he is at school. I’m so glad that despite his concerns about the possible implications of going to school in the middle of a pandemic Nathan has been a force for good in the school. It seems like there is not enough good to go around these days.