20061013 Students in Action Summit at West Middle School

Students in Action Summit at Westminster’s West Middle School

October 11^th and 12^th, 2006

I had the pleasure to participate in the Students in Action Summit at Westminster’s West Middle School on October 11^th and 12^th, 2006.

Pasted above is my rendition of the events.

It was a cutting edge problem identification and resolution opportunity with the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders at what may be the most diverse school in the Carroll County Public School system.

Much of the heavy lifting for the event is to the enormous credit of Assistant Principal Aurora Pagulayan.

I was also quite impressed with the level of intelligent participation of the school children, although I was not surprised.

In the last number of years, I have had a number of opportunities to participate in a great many Carroll County Public School’s student programs and events and I walk away consistently impresses with the school system, individuals such as Assistant Principal Aurora Pagulayan - - and most importantly, the young adults in the school system.

I am also consistently impressed with the number of community leaders who take time out of their hectic days to get involved in an effort to make a difference and a contribution.

Folks such as: Karen Edmunds, Neeta Pansuriya, Chris Roemer, Jackie Reiff, Andrea Shalal-Esa, Bonnie Andrews, Gary Honeman, Lauren Dundes, and Jim Rodriquez to mention only a few names that come to mind quickly.

Of course, one of the other good things the school system is always careful to do well is to feed us community volunteers. I am not a morning person and the coffee and fruit and pastries went a long ways with me.

Carroll County Times staff writer, Penny Riordan penned an excellent article on the event which appeared in today’s paper: “Finding Solutions: Racial slurs, lockers discipline among problems identified by students.”

Her article will help a great deal to understand the mechanics of the day. You can find it here.

When I catch-up from losing two half-days out of my schedule in the last several days, I will look forward to also writing about this exciting event.

Hats off to Westminster’s West Middle School Assistant Principal Aurora Pagulayan, the young adults at the school, the community leaders who gave so graciously of their time to participate and to the Carroll County Public School System for having the foresight and the leadership to roll up their sleeves and make such an important program happen.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org http://www.thetentacle.com/ Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report http://www.thewestminstereagle.com/ www.kevindayhoff.com has moved to http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/