As students filed into the auditorium, SGA representatives and administrators helped guide them to their seats. The Patriot Leadership Academy’s (PLA) third town hall of the year, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, began about four minutes after the bell, with introductions by seniors Alek Bargman and Amani Bett, representing the MLSA and SGA. They gave a quick overview of PLA’s mission, shared a QR where students could drop questions and announced raffle tickets that students could earn for participation and staying attentive during the presentation.
The PLA was created by Principal Dr. Joseph Bostic Jr. last year to create unity within student groups at this school. This year, the group is composed of students in the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Multi-Leader Student Association (MLSA). At the end of the last school year, students asked for more opportunities to share feedback, leading to monthly town halls where students and administrators present updates, address concerns and spotlight school initiatives.
Presenters wore pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, while PLA members wore orange for Unity Day, at the request of Assistant School Administrator Gillian Ratti. Students outside of the PLA were encouraged to dress in pink and orange, though the social media post promoting the colors didn’t reach the number of students desired. “It felt a little last-minute, if it was posted earlier, I definitely would have dressed up in orange and pink for the spirit day,” senior Trixie Verrija said
This month, the town hall featured two special guests: Sergeant John Mullaney from the Montgomery County Police Citizen Academy and Dr. Autumn Richards, who spoke about breast cancer awareness. “[Special guests] bring personal perspective and community interest into our smaller community so that we can see what else might be going on. It helps teachers and students recognize the things that we all may be experiencing outside the classroom,” SGA sponsor Amy Buckingham said.
Mullaney opened the event by discussing the history and purpose of the Montgomery County Police Citizen Academy. He invited students to join the program and outlined topics covered in the academy, such as underage drinking, criminal law and child abuse investigations — starting the town hall on a more serious note than usual.
Afterward, Bett and senior Ginan Ahmed took the stage to explain the meaning behind Unity Day and how students could participate outside of school. They then handed things off to junior Peace Tiam and co-head of SGA’s town hall committee, senior Urielle Ngako, who introduced the game, “Are You Smarter Than a High Schooler?”
In the game, teachers and randomly selected students competed in a quick trivia match, answering questions about pop culture or the teacher’s subject area. The first to get two out of the three questions right won, while the losing team got pied in the face. In the first of the four matches, counselors Daniella Bienstock and Sheri Snyder faced off against freshman Ray Spivak and junior Zikora Okeke, with the students losing on the final question and getting pied in the face. By the end of the town halls, the teachers had won three out of four of the games.
Once the laughter died down, Ngako and Tiam handed the microphone to the other co-head of the town hall committee, this writer, senior Ahmed Ibrahim, to announce the latest Patriot Cup rankings. The Patriot Cup is a new year-long spirit competition between grade levels, reminiscent of the “house cup” in the “Harry Potter” books, in order to encourage students to attend and participate in more spirit events. The freshmen led with 180 points, followed by the seniors with 161, the sophomores trailing closely behind with 160 and the juniors in last with 120.
Sophomore Grace Oguntomilade and junior Olivia Shin took the stage next to announce all the upcoming events where students could earn more points, including the Cluster School Fall Festival, the theater department’s fall show, “Seussical Kids!,” the senior panoramic photo and International Night.
Junior Laya Kudaravalli followed with a recap of the GloCo event, which took place on Oct. 10 as a replacement for a traditional homecoming dance. She announced that 628 tickets had been sold, before handing the mic back to Ibrahim and Ngako, who led a quick spirit competition to see which grade could cheer the loudest. The energy built up before the program shifted toward a more serious topic: Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Junior Alex Rabin spoke about the importance of awareness and early detection before introducing Dr. Richards, a friend of Buckingham, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Richards shared her story and addressed common misconceptions about the disease. Midway through her speech, she removed her wig, in an attempt to show students that, “she is vulnerable, and she is human, we’re all human. She wanted to recognize people who know people going through breast cancer, and she wanted to acknowledge that it’s OK to talk about it,” Buckingham said.
To close out the event, sophomore Violet Sky Tu quizzed students on what they learned during the town hall before administrators and SGA representatives helped dismiss students to their fourth-period classes.
Town halls continue to be an essential way for students and staff to stay connected. With consistent turnout and more student-led planning, the PLA’s goal of communication and unity seems to be growing stronger with each event. “The last town hall was extremely successful. These town halls are very important, not only because of the information given out to the student body that they otherwise would be getting through an email, which most people don’t check, but it also brings together the student body using fun games and activities for them to participate in. It fosters a sense of community in this school that otherwise feels very disconnected,” Ngako said.
