It’s been a long time since I’ve fainted.  I’ve been close several times but the last time I fainted I was in 9th grade.  I was serving as an alter boy in church and I have vivid memories of holding the Bible for our priest and feeling hot, dizzy, and experiencing my hearing going “in and out”.  I was able to faint “gracefully” in front of church that day...sort of handing the Bible to Father before collapsing. It must be sort of a Frie tradition since my son has fainted two years in a row at Easter Sunday Mass.  At graduation, I got a refresher on how it feels to faint or in this case “nearly faint”. I went to the podium to read a short introduction for our guest speaker, Mr. Kent Williams. When I looked down at the paper, I saw black blotches covering the words and became very hot.  I looked away, sort of tried to re-focus and looked at the paper again...no luck...black blotches. I was fainting and I knew it! I couldn’t get my words out and quickly skipped to “Please Welcome Mr. Kent Williams.” and got off the stage. I’m so thankful I didn’t drop over during the middle of graduation!  I completely butchered Mr. Williams’ introduction on this day but he absolutely knocked the speech out of the park, proving he didn’t NEED an introduction!

Summer of 2018 is off and running here at school!  We have a lot of work that needs to be done to get ready for the 2018-2019 school year.  The big focus has been getting our building project started. To get started, a lot of decisions had to be made in a short amount of time.  I’ve learned things like “grout color really matters” and it seems like everything in commercial construction is crazy expensive. We’ve included teachers, coaches, and staff in the decision-making process as much as possible.

• All 7-12 students got to participate in a survey regarding the gym.  210 students in grades 7-12 took the survey over Google and the 5th and 6th grade were surveyed more informally.  65.2% (137 students) of the students said to update the gym mural and 34.8% (73 students) said to keep it. The 5th and 6th grade liked the idea of a new mural but incorporating some sort of Viking ship.  A group of 6-8 students across several different grades will come together and work with artists at AP Design to create an updated mural. It was a hard decision but the time to update seems right.
  

• As part of the gym survey, I asked the students if they’d like to name their gym.  It seems to be a new trend (YME is “The Hive, Byron Bears is “The Den”, etc.). Some of these gyms even get their own hashtag on Twitter!  74.8% of the students liked the idea of naming their gym. They provided a lot of good ideas but the most popular one was “The Viking Ship”.  This will be a fun school-wide decision for the fall when all the students get back.

• We believe that the gym hasn’t been painted since 1983 (no proof, just what some longtime employees report to me).  I can’t express how bright and fresh it’s going to look in our gym this fall! The beams, the ceilings, and all the walls are getting painted!  

• During the last few days of school, I pulled several sophomore and junior students from class to decide on the new wall panels that are going to cover the 1958 subway tiles in the Competition Gym.  It was interesting and at times, an entertaining process. The students were very passionate and worked hard to come up with just the right colors. It wasn’t unanimous but they came up with contrasting wood colors (hard to explain in a blog) but it’s going to look great!  The students elected to keep the blue and gold racing stripes along both bleachers.

• The teachers got in on the decision-making too!  They picked out the color of the commercial-grade vinyl flooring (long, narrow tiles) that will be put into the high school classrooms!  They chose four different gray colors. A certain percentage of each color will be randomly installed (no pattern) in each high school classroom this summer.  The darkest color will be 10% of the tiles and the lightest will be 20% of the tiles with mid-level colors taking up most of the rooms. They picked out their new blinds and decided to go with a solid wood door (for safety) vs having a new door with a window.      
  

• Last summer, the gym floor was refinished.  Sadly, it didn’t hold up and it will be re-done once again.  This won’t be our cost, it will be replaced for free. With the construction going on, it won’t be done until the week after MEA break.  The hope is to get it done between the fall and winter season.

• You may have noticed that new light poles will be installed along the sidewalk on 5th street.  This will provide excellent lighting for safety and security. With our parking situation, many people park over there for home activities.  We are hopeful the lights in the parking lot will be installed soon. This may cause a parking lot closure during the summer. Stay tuned!

I hope your summer is off to a great start!  I will be updating you on some school security topics with my next blog.  

Jeremy W. Frie

High School Principal