Owatonna High School is prominent for its driven academic, athletic and involvement based objectives. It aims to create an environment that truly gives students the opportunity to achieve their fullest success. One of these major opportunities being Compass Days.
The Compass occurs two times each month where clubs, groups, extra help and student made organizations can meet before the school day starts and or afternoon flextime. Giving students the time of day to evaluate what they need to get done and or preform.
Each outlet of Compass is being utilized to achieve success and confidence in OHS whether that is through school work or through student connections. This form of community allows students to assert themselves in the classroom for extra help along with providing students clubs with various missions. All are presented as personal options for students to gain higher understanding academically or as a source of fulfillment for students’ relationships.
As a student body, excellence is a goal many strive for. How OHS students achieve this goal is something that depends on their interests. Here at OHS, a wide spectrum of students fall under the extracurricular leaders and the academic sweats. Whether students strive for perfection in their grades or in the sports they participate in, different environments measure success differently. Principal Kory Kath measures Owatonna High School’s success through Compass days. He does this by giving students a more intimate setting to get the help they need, along with granting students the area to find like-minded people such as themselves.
Compass is an area of inclusivity for all types of students. But, the foundation of this monthly activity originated as a way for students to balance their school life. Principal Kath said, “One of the soft skills that they need students to be able to do is understand time management and the way in which they balance their life.”
“One of the soft skills that they need students to be able to do is understand time management and the way in which they balance their life.”
— Principal
Putting in extra time and work for classes isn’t necessary for every student. Some have 4.0 GPA’s and have no missing assignments, which gives them this time to attend club meetings or sports. However, students leading their own clubs are now contributing to the Compass schedule. Many times school based clubs like BBBS, NHS and SHOC end up being overlapped.
This causes students to choose what is more valuable with their time. Balancing options is a problem that Principal Kath truly acknowledges. He said, “I’ve got dual kids that want to be in many clubs at the same time. So this isn’t meeting 100 percent of our needs.” Principal Kath mentioned that the compass program is being filled with many new clubs causing more schedule problems to occur. But, administration is open to ideas from students and are using these past years to evaluate the flaws and successes of Compass.
The wide spectrum of students here at OHS use Compass days for different reasons. Some use it to remake work and or get one on one time with teachers. But, as the time passes from COVID-19, Compass days seem to have lessened in different outlets. The pressure of acceptable performance and attendance for Compass days causes conflict to arise. Certain meetings are made mandatory, making students prior commitments to be put on hold all due to the rules of Compass. OHS teaches students to be active members of the community through the school image. With this in mind, students are participating in numerous sports and activities only somewhat forcing them to be dependent on the Compass time.
Compass days, according to the students’ responses, involve a range of perspectives. Some students think we should enhance the time period so more work can be done, while others think not many people use them at all. Junior Maddy Reese said, “I usually don’t have much of a problem with understanding school work but I know I always have the option of going to a teacher.” Each individual student at the high school is unique in their own way. This results in different work ethics and determination for success. Therefore, the number of groups attending Compass days includes those who actually need help, those who are free to attend a class and get extra work, and or those who don’t need compass. This all adds on to the common differences for Compass day turnouts.
Striving for success can make or break an idea. Through hard work and years of dedication, Compass days became a new outlet for students. With years of conforming the right lens to the program, students are now taking a stance on how and why they use compass days. With various opinions and ideas on the matter being present, it is clear that the OHS Compass environment could be more filtered towards the students’ needs.
