With over twenty clubs and organizations at Rock Island High School, and most of them are led by teachers, these extracurricular commitments are great opportunities for students, but can be a lot of extra work for the staff that are involved. It has to be a struggle to balance both of those things. Michelle Greenwood is a junior/senior English teacher, who is also in charge of Gray Matter Collective here at Rocky, and Mackenzie Munday is a US history and AP European History teacher, who is co-sponsor of the Student Council. The two make it clear that all the struggles to teach and lead a club are well worth it.
The Gray Matters Collective is fairly new to Rock Island High School, being as Greenwood the founding member, she wanted to bring this to life because she feels every student should focus on their mental health. “I believe that every student should feel like they matter. I don’t want one single student in this building to question whether or not someone cares about them,” stated Greenwood. This drive for making students feel valued is what makes this group very important to Greenwood.
Obviously, juggling multiple commitments at once comes with its very own challenges, one even being the job of having too MANY opportunities. Munday says, “Our Student Council members always offer a plethora of good ideas to spread the word about events, raise money, etc. Sometimes, we get so many ideas that we are unable to tackle everything. That has definitely been a challenge for us this year, but it is a good one to have!”
While being in charge of both groups can be a struggle with finding time and the energy to make them successful, Munday and Greenwood are both proud of what the groups have done. “One of my proudest moments was getting to watch some of my own TGMC walk in the Keep Marching Forward event this past fall. Along with watching one of our student leaders get to participate in a student panel during the We are Collective event,” says Greenwood. Munday, however, expresses that her favorite memory is seeing students’ faces light up at a job well done, stating, “My favorite memory so far with the Student Council was seeing how proud students were after our Hunger Drive. They put a lot of work into that, and seeing their hard work turn into meals for people in the area was priceless.”
As you can see, a lot comes along with having to multitask being a teacher and also having time to lead a club, but if you have a passion for something then it makes it all worth the time and effort.
