The Islander Advisory Team is a new program that started in winter 2022. The group consists of students from each grade level who advise Ms. Mellina on different important topics. Ms. Mellina wanted to gather information from diverse students and she succeeded. In the group, there is representation from Coronado School of the Arts, clubs, and students who have struggled academically, to name a few. All of these students work closely with Ms. Mellina to give her the student point-of-view on how high school really is. No singular perspective holds the focus of the team and everyone is welcome to discuss freely about their personal experiences.
The Islander Advisory Team has had meetings nearly every week since December. One of their main goals is to help fix campus culture. Everyone in the group wants Coronado High School to be an inviting, safe, and exciting place for all student demographics. There have been many proposed ideas to help strengthen campus culture, like class bonding events and making classrooms a friendlier environment. All students should feel that their space of learning is a good one, as everyone’s learning style is different.
The team is also trying to encourage “Islander Pride” when it comes to the issue of campus culture. “Islander Pride” is Coronado High School’s way of making students feel united with peers and their school. The advisory team wants to incorporate that motto into their solutions for this issue.
Students continually raise the point that student apathy is the biggest issue with high schoolers today. Some students feel that high school, either socially or academically, is a waste of time. A big part of this issue for both sides is anxiety. Socially, it could stem from peers and not wanting to look “uncool” participating in or caring about school activities. One good perspective here is the fact that Coronado is a military community. The high school has many new students move here each year in all grade levels. That move is a big jump socially and new students want to make good first impressions. Being apathetic may seem like the easiest way to fit in at first, but it really isn’t the best.
When talking about academics, one has to look at the two sides of this form of apathy. There could be a student who is struggling and doesn’t understand some of their course material which leads them to stop caring and dislike school altogether. On the other side of the spectrum, there are the more academically-inclined students. These are students who struggle from burn out or simply want to get good grades with little care of actually learning. Academics are different for everybody which is why this issue is so difficult. The team is currently planning on talking to different teachers, students, and counselors to get data for furthering plans on what to do.
Team members meet every Friday during lunch to have open discussions as a group. Ms. Mellina has a great listening ear and continues trying to make every student’s experience at CHS a good one (now with the help of her team). There’s no sign-up or invitation needed to attend the weekly meetings. Pizza is provided for those who attend as well. Lastly, those passionate about change who want to help their school are encouraged to come to a meeting in room 202.
