Article by MAYA MASHEB, CHRISTINE BAE and DEVIKA RAJEEV
Photographs by LINDSAY SILVERMAN and SOPHIA ZARIFOPOULOS
Three weeks into the new school year, prestigious, high-membership clubs: National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, and Student Council, are still left without faculty advisors to oversee their activities.
Faculty advisors play huge roles in whether or not clubs run smoothly. The advisor has many duties while running the club including proposing and scheduling events, assigning officer and leadership positions, meeting with students individually and in small groups, and being present while club meetings take place. Assistant Principal Dr. Artiles said the faculty advisor must be “someone who is available all the time” and so parents and substitute teachers cannot become advisors.
Most of the previous faculty advisors for these clubs stepped down because the clubs were difficult to keep up with and were very time consuming. When asked why she stepped down, previous faculty advisor for the Spanish Honor Society Ms. Pryhocki said she was constantly meeting with the officers of the club and she got behind in her work. “There’s just no way to answer the emails and meet with all the kids who need your attention,” she said.
Previous advisor of Student Council Government Ms. Rinaudo, who had been leading the club since 2000, gave reasons as to why she resigned from the position. In her opinion, it was a big job that required major responsibility, and it made it difficult to balance teaching and running the club. Rinaudo said she is very proud of all the things she and the students accomplished while being the faculty advisor of Student Council such as the Battle of the Classes, and emphasized, “This has nothing to do with the students.”
The lack of advisors is a major concern for many students. Senior and returning member of the National Honor Society, Alexis Corbin, said, “Without an advisor I don’t think this club will run. It is an achievement to be in this club since you have to have around a 3.5 GPA and that is something hard to maintain.” Previous National Honor Society advisor Mrs. Moriarty was unavailable for comment.
The high school administration has been working diligently to make sure the clubs will run this year and with no negative outcomes for students. Jericho High School Principal Ms. Rosenberg said “we are finalizing advisors this week” and that National Honor Society inductions “will proceed as normal.” In fact she said that new advisors for all three clubs will be announced after they are appointed by the Board of Education at its meeting on Thursday, September 24, 2015.
UPDATE — September 30, 2015
The Board of Education appointed new club advisors for all open positions at its meeting on Thursday, September 24th. The new advisors and their emails are as follows:
National Honor Society: Alyson Silagy, asilagy@jerichoschools.org
Spanish Honor Society: Marcella Berkovsky, mberkovsky@jerichoschools.org
Student Council Spirit:– Denise Romano, dromano@jerichoschools.org
Student Council Government: Jill Kahan-Long, jkahan@jerichoschools.org
Great article!! You all are doing an amazing job so far and I love seeing what you all are working on. Keep up the good work!