In late January, senior Iyad Mohammed stepped up to the podium like any normal Upper School assembly. However, this time was different, as Mohammed requested all teachers to exit Rose Hall.
As teachers and advisors filed out, Fredston Family Head of School Lee Hark along with the student council officers stepped onto the stage to begin the first Upper School town hall meeting.
During the town hall, the student council members read out several questions from students submitted via a form to Hark along with students asking questions directly to Hark during the assembly.
“I’ve talked about this idea with former student council presidents in the past and left it to them, saying ‘I’d love to do this if you’re interested’, and it never came to fruition until Iyad followed through,” Hark said.
For Mohammed, finding something new and unique to add to assemblies during his term as student body president became very important to him.
“When I was looking through some of the things I could do as president, something that caught my eye was a town hall, and that was quite interesting for me because I’ve never experienced one and during the past three years at Greenhill I haven’t heard anyone talk about having one either,” Mohammed said.
Hark says he is hoping these town hall meetings will allow him to connect more with students, sharing his regret of not being able to do so in the past.
“One of the things that was interesting to me, and it’s always interesting to me, is the rumors that circulate about things that students have heard that I’m thinking about doing or going to do that just have no basis,” Hark said.
Along with connecting more with students and finding out their concerns, Hark says he was pleased with the opportunity to give more information regarding current projects in the administration office.
“Towards the end, students asking their own questions made it more genuine where Mr. Hark would give real answers without having time to prepare,” Mohammed said. “I think that was a good thing as it shows honesty and transparency.”
Students’ questions covered areas ranging from rumors of changes being made to the dress code, reasons for not having a homecoming king and queen, retaining teachers for multiple years at Greenhill and many questions about facilities such as the new Valdes STEM + Innovation Center.
Following the success of the first town hall meeting, Hark and the student council plan to continue with this concept, allowing students to voice their questions to Hark regularly at assemblies.
