Here is your Voice of the Wildcats committee for the 2021-22 school year. These students will meet with Mr. Thorpe once a month to voice their opinions on decisions that are made at the schools. Congratulations to these awesome Wildcats. pic.twitter.com/8NnflpmYep
— Trigg County Schools (@TriggSchools) August 25, 2021
In an effort to get the “pulse” of the high school, Trigg County Superintendent Bill Thorpe has created a “Voice of the Wildcats” Committee — in which 12 students stratified across all four grades will convene once a month to converse with him about the good news, the bad news and everything in between within those walls.
It’s a progressive approach on how to improve all facets of the student experience at Trigg County High School. From athletics, academics, technology, safety, school spirit, nutrition, staffing and more, no subject seems to be off limits.
The most important part: Thorpe said all subjects are broached privately, allowing a freedom to speak without fear of repercussion.
Having had their first meeting on August 26, Thorpe said three very specific subjects were discussed in the inaugural setting. And while Thorpe wouldn’t divulge the contents, as he promised the students, he did say more than 30 minutes of engaging conversation and diverse opinion helped give him a clearer picture.
One small thing he did say came out of the inaugural meeting is that the 12 students seemed rather interested in attending some site based decision making council meetings in the near future, in order to voice some strongly-formed opinions.
Thorpe encouraged them to do so.
The 13 students were selected from a pool of 25 applicants, who had to fill out a short survey and write an accompanying essay. Thorpe said all of the applications were strong and thoughtful, and that those who weren’t selected for this school year will certainly be considered for the future — as new ideas, new concerns and new questions will be a big part of this ongoing process.
And it’s still very much a work in progress. Thorpe said he wasn’t sure how future iterations of the committee would go. But it was time to get something like this up and running, and now there’s some hope that this bears some fruit.
The first such committee includes four seniors (McKenna Green, Colson Thomas, Michaela Garske, Vincent McQuade), three juniors (Maela Skinner, James [Ivey] Redd, Matt Alex Ladd), four sophomores (Tay’Shaun Linton, Sarah “Sam” Cartwright, Alexandria Smith, J’Cieona Cavanaugh) and two freshmen (Alexandria Smith, Chloe Kacou).
