Every now and again, we have a thing at the beginning of advisory called a State Walk. You line up outside the class along the walls and cheer as the band marches through the hall flanking students being recognized for their accomplishments in sports. Has this been something we’ve always done? When
10 years ago, Eric Meyer came to Mark Meibers with an idea about a thing called State Walks.
They worked together, made a few tweaks, and eventually started doing them. They figured out the path that the honored students would take, and when during the day we should do them.
Here’s the details: State Walks happen when students participate in an extracurricular and their team makes it to a state competition. They walk with their team and the band through the hallways while other students and teachers stand along the walls, clap and cheer. They do not practice for State Walks; they just wing it. Mr. Meibers works with coaches to see what day will work best, giving coaches advance time to coordinate a matching look for students, and finally, Mr. Pollit decides the time, which is advisory, so students don’t have to miss important lessons during core classes.
Students participating in sports, Robotics, or any other school organized extracurricular activities are eligible to walk, and if they make it to a state competition, they get to walk the halls during advisory. It’s a very fun time for everyone including the students who don’t get to walk. During one state walk, Ms. Morris, Ms. Evanson, and her advisory class had a wall sit competition, the winner got 3 pieces of candy. Shockingly, after all the students and Ms. Evanson fell, the only people left were 2 girls and Ms. Morris. One girl fell then shortly after, the other girl
fell. They completely forgot about Ms. Morris and she ended up winning, after keeping the wall sit going for several more minutes! Crazy turn of events but a great bonding moment for everyone involved.
Also, state walks are great because we get to see our friends walk or see new people walk. This is not only a good thing for students but also teachers. Teachers can put names to faces and get to know students slightly, if they have them in the future. Students might also find new people and be able to match names to faces as well or talk to people in the hallway, maybe they have a class with a student walking, they complement them and a friendship sparks. Many good things could happen and it’s just a fun and uplifting experience to show school spirit!
