Hannah Roaten is ready to tackle the school year alongside the Elizabethton City Schools administration.
No stranger to staying busy, the Elizabethton High School senior was welcomed Tuesday evening as the ECS Board of Education’s student liaison for the 2017-2018 school year.
“I think it was a real eye-opening experience,” Roaten said following the meeting. “I didn’t bring anything with me tonight. I just wanted to get the gist and see how everything worked. I met with (Director of Schools) Dr. (Corey) Gardenhour yesterday, and it was really great to hear from him and talk about what’s going to happen over the school year.”
The student liaison position, a one-year term, is a product of the high school’s work with the Bartleby Program, with graduate Cory Fitzsimmons serving at the post during the position inaugural year during the 16-17 academic calendar. Whether it’s staying busy in the community or taking part in a bevy of clubs at the school, Roaten said she hopes to represent the entire student body.
“I thought that experience would make me a good candidate for the position,” she said. “I feel like I will be able to represent the student body well.”
Roaten added she’ll be working at conducting student surveys over the school year to provide the BOE with insight from what the student body feels on certain topics within the system.
One key element to the current school year is the excitement circulating the pilot year of the Bartley Program at EHS. This year, the school is offering two classes, Community Improvement and Entrepreneurship.
Roaten is taking part in the business aspect of the program, which takes place next semester, but indicated the hype is continually growing for the program.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I know the people that are in the Community Improvement class are extremely excited about it. There’s a lot of hype going around our school about it. I hope that this inspires students that are underclassmen to want to apply for the classes next year. I think it is a really great class.”
During the director’s comments’ portion of the meeting, Dr. Gardenhour welcomed Roaten and added the board is looking forward to working alongside the student over the school year.
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In other business, the BOE:
• Approved a memorandum of understanding between Carter County Head Start and ECS’ Pre-K program.
• Approved an agreement between the system and Elizabethton Police Department for the School Resource Officer Program.
• Approved the creation of a position at West Side Elementary for a part-time assistant to the teacher for math intervention. The hope is to make the position full-time for the following school year, pending federal funding.
• Ratified a cleaning agreement with Can Do Enterprises for cleanup following home varsity football games at Citizens Bank Stadium.