BY KATELYN BUCHALTER
Buchalter: My first question would be, how do you think this year will compare to past years?
Sasso: It’s always interesting because every year, there’s a personality, oftentimes driven by the senior class. It’s hard to compare one year to the next, but what I can say is early signs so far have pointed to a really positive school year. Just my interactions with peer leaders so far this summer and our student senate have been very positive, very driven, and very focused on making what’s already in place- things like Homecoming, and Pink Out, and things like that – great and better, but also trying to come up with some new ideas and initiatives. So far, I’m really excited about what I’m seeing from our student body. Then, me personally, this year more than ever, I think we’ve come up with this summer, a lot of new initiatives, student-driven initiatives that I think are going to really promote positive behavior from our student body. Hopefully, that translates into a really great year.
Buchalter: What is your opinion on the incoming senior class?
Sasso: It looks good. I know I mentioned that a little bit before, but our student senate, led by seniors, has been very focused and driven so far, so that’s been great. I worked with 20 peer leaders last Friday during our first-ever freshmen open house. You know, I just walked away and watched them just talk to parents and integrate into the entire program, grab freshmen, or soon-to-be freshmen, and make them feel comfortable and walk them around. Also, our Disney sign-ups are really high; almost 50 percent of the class is signed up for Disney, which is a big number, and that’s always an early indication that students are ready to go. We’ve sold out our dinner cruise; over 450 students paid and are ready to go. Those are early signs that people are excited and ready to go.
Buchalter: Speaking of events, what events should students be looking forward to the most?
Sasso: Yeah, so the fall is always really great, especially for seniors. Seniors and juniors have the opportunity to go to homecoming, and seniors have the senior dinner cruise. Pink Out is always a fun, great day here, and the student senate ran Knight Out last year, which was a really great event and was the first time we brought it back in many years. I think that was positive and will grow a little bit. Battle of the Classes is always fun; we’re trying to build that up a little bit. Oh, bingo night is back! I know some people are excited about that.
Buchalter: There was some talk of budget cuts last year, are there any significant changes in any of the schools programs that students should be aware of?
Sasso: No, all of our programs are back. All of our classes are back. Students were able to take whatever course offering electives that they wanted to. Everything is back; thank the Board of Education and our Superintendent for keeping all those things intact.
Buchalter: Speaking of, there weren’t any changes or any cuts or anything, but are there any new programs that students should be excited for, or are we looking to renew some of the best things about past years?
Sasso: Yeah I think it’s a lot of that. We continue to grow our early college program. We have a lot more course offerings available for students to take college credits along with high school. I guess the one thing that’s gonna be impacted – it’s not a program but a service – [losing] the after-school busing is one of those things. We’re going to have to make some adjustments to how we go about our club life here and things like that. I don’t think it’s gonna impact it negatively, but we’re gonna have to probably do some things a little bit differently.
Buchalter: We have new freshmen coming in. What advice would give to the incoming freshmen?
Sasso: You know, it’s funny because I meet with the freshmen in one of the first couple days of school, and, a couple years ago, we had asked students who graduated, “If you could go back to your freshmen former self, what advice would you give them?” I think primarily what you see is just to be respectful, to be kind, and to go to class. Simple little things that we can all control. You know- to appreciate this really great high school with a lot of opportunities. I think just to be respectful and appreciate the opportunity that they have, but really just go to class. We have some really great teachers who are doing a lot of really great things. Take advantage of that by just getting to school every day.
Buchalter: Obviously student involvement is big. What do you think, not just for freshmen but everyone, what are the best ways for students to get involved this year?
Sasso: I think communication is super important, and each of the classes has a class team page that’s monitored by class advisors. I’ve met with the advisors already, and I’ve asked them to seek out kids who are interested in just doing stuff and being active, not just school events but service learning and cooperative projects. I think that’s one. We’ll have a club fair early in the year to encourage kids to get out there and join some clubs and connect with students outside of the classroom. So, that’s another really big way. I think pay attention and check out Knight Life everyday because I think a lot of the information geared towards students can be found there.
Buchalter: What are you most looking forward too about this year?
Sasso: For me, every year, it’s all about students. It’s the reason why I wake up and I get here every day. Each year, you see students just emerge and do amazing things. My work with you, you know as I mentioned, honestly you’re one of those people that I would put up there on a pedestal. Too see students find a passion, find something that they like and enjoy doing and then too go and actually start too do the work and apply it. So, I’m always excited because you see that a lot senior year. It’s another year; you’re getting closer to college. You’re starting to really kinda figure out where you see yourself. I’m excited to see how people emerge and some of the great things that I think will come out of watching that happen.
Buchalter: Alright, I think that ends the questions, was there anything else you wanted to add that I didn’t cover? Anything you want to say to the students?
Sasso: No, just again, I think overall, just be kind, be respectful. You know what we do have this year that I should have mentioned- we’re going to do this school-wide positive reinforcement; I don’t want to call it a token economy, but basically an opportunity for teachers and staff members. We’re going to have this ticket system, and so teachers are gonna get, for example, twenty tickets at the beginning of the month. They can hand those tickets out to random students, their own students that they see do things like maybe active generosity or someone who was helpful, or if they saw somebody be inclusive and invite people in, maybe if they’re sitting alone at lunch and things like that. So, teachers are going to be able to hand those tickets out. Students are going to be able to drop those into grade-level buckets and then be eligible for weekly and monthly rewards, incentives, and giveaways. I think, you know, just the concept of it is to really reward and incentivize positive behavior and try to encourage students to make really good decisions.
Posted on 9/4/24
Knight Life 