Hardin High Program Raises Student Voices

Members of Hardin High's RSVP Leadership Team include from left, Hayden Hooker, Joseph Doyle, Jordan Minnick, Damon Eastman and the group's advisor Mr. Mitch Evans. (not pictured: Kemule Bull Shows and Jarvis Weibert).

By Jordan Minnick
Hardin High School

Hardin High School is breaking ground with a student-facilitated school improvement program called RSVP (Raising Student Voice and Participation). Amazingly, Hardin High is also the only Class-A school in Montana to administer the program .

RSVP was pursued by the HHS Student Council upon its introduction at the state student council conference last fall in Glasgow. Interest had sparked the HHS Student Council who thought Hardin High could benefit from the school-wide program; a program that gave every student the power to express their opinions of their high school and left improvement ideas to the student's creativity. Six student council members then went to the RSVP training in Highwood, where we learned how to facilitate the different summits, or steps, of the program.

In summit one, students compile a list of if issues and concerns within the school. After completing summit one here at HHS, the most popular issues proved to be bringing back DECA (a snack store run by the DECA club), being able to use cell phones in school, extending our 35 minute lunch period, having a student lounge, having longer holiday breaks, switching out the power reading period, and having water fountains with refrigeration.

This week, in summit two, the students will be presented with the top ideas mentioned above and will also assess the reality of each. For instance, if a longer lunch is strongly promoted, the students must keep in mind where the extra time will come from. DECA will definitely be tough to figure, being that there is no longer room for an actual store as it is now the teacher's lounge. With factors such as these in mind, the seven ideas will be voted on in order to further narrow them down.

Summits three and four have yet to be planned, but the steps of the RSVP program should be completed by the end of the school year in order for changes to take place in the 08-09 school year.

The RSVP team has branched out, lending their expertise on the program to others also. Recently, they presented to a district principal's meeting and also at the District IV Student Council Spring Meeting, reaching 125-plus students from other student councils in Montana. It is our hope for other Montana high schools to also take part in RSVP, to be trained and to implement the program.