The Class of 2019's senior gift to USN included several glass boards in the library, study rooms, and coves across campus to help increase productivity and community building among younger peers.
By Harper Johnston ’21 This article was originally published in the May edition of The Peabody Press, the High School student newspaper.
The members of the Class of 2019 USN are about to graduate and attend colleges across the nation, but their impact on USN will still be apparent on campus next year.
Traditionally, every year, the senior student council spends their leftover savings on a project that is intended to benefit our community. Last year, seniors bought a new speaker system for the River Campus. This year’s gift is more study-oriented and will hopefully increase students’ productivity during free periods. By next year, students will have access to new whiteboards in the library lobby, the study rooms, outside the nurse’s office, around the sitting area on the third floor, and in the commons.
The boards will all be located in public spaces that can easily be seen by administrators, so students are not tempted to misuse the whiteboards. Rachel Becker, the senior class president, has worked very hard with her fellow officers and faculty to address any problems that the boards might cause.
“There were a lot of concerns that people would misuse the whiteboards,” said Becker, “We decided to place all the boards in public areas to solve the problem.”
Ms. Sachs, the senior class sponsor, helped the seniors fine-tune their project. She agreed that there are certain risks, but thinks that students will benefit from the new study spaces.
“The risk is that students might misuse them and write inappropriate things,” Sachs added, “The student council officers spent a lot of time and energy thinking about why the benefits outweigh the potential risks and also how to minimize that risk.”
A lot of time and thought went into perfecting this project because the senior class believes that these boards can be an advantageous tool for all USN high school students. Becker and Sachs hope that these whiteboards provide more spaces where students can study with their classmates in an interactive way.
“I hope it will make students feel like they have opportunities to easily show what they have learned and work through things together,” Sachs said.
The Quiz Bowl team traveled to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to face several top teams from across the country at this year's South Warren Tournament. USN's second-place finish earned the team an invitation to the National Academic Quiz Tournaments' National Championships in May.
In an inspiring new initiative, USN's health care career spotlight, organized by Ruchika Ramachandran ’27 and Yvonne Wang ’27, brought a wealth of alumni back to the school for an evening of shared expertise and personal stories. This first-of-its-kind event was a great example of the power of connection, mentorship, and community evident throughout the USN community.
Ahead of the All Bands Winter Concert, students got to play for Larry Clark, the composer who arranged the holiday medley that the band will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 9 in Durnan Auditorium.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.