Over the summer, Librarian Tara Willen and ESOL teacher Andrea Corvalan stepped into the roles of sponsoring MAC Scholars.
“I did not want to tackle it by myself because it’s a lot, but I worked with the previous sponsor, so I know a lot of what they were doing and how things were organized,” Willen said. “And it turns out Corvalan was in the same boat and didn’t want to do it by herself. I was like, if I’m not doing it by myself, then yes I will kind of tag team and do it together.”
New sponsors mean new additions for the club. MAC Scholars will now meet during Knight Time every five weeks for informational meetings, and after school for service projects.
“I’m super excited that we’re adding a Canvas course for Mac Scholars, so that each of those students will be added to the course, and we can give out information and put resources there so that piece is new this year,” Willen said.
Even with the new sponsors, the structure of the club will stay relatively the same as previous years. Willen and Corvalan are working to create the same opportunities for students as offered before for the club, keeping the level of involvement that students had from last year.
“It’s kind of 50-50 [student and teacher run], from what I can gather, I think a lot of the service projects and those kinds of activities are more student-run, but the adults are in charge of organizing,” Willen said. “We do a practice ACT in the winter, and organize some college visits and a college panel. The information giving part is more on the adults, and the service part is more on the students.”
Some students have been a part of MAC Scholars for multiple years, and have an optimistic view on the changes.
“I think it’ll be different,” sophomore Makenzi Foley said. “But I also think that everybody’s good with adjusting and we’ll all make it work. I think everybody helps support everyone.”
