Trading places
Eighth-grader Corey Combs is the first to admit that he’s no stranger to the principal’s office at Northwood Middle School. But last Friday he was in the office in a different capacity.
At the same time, Principal Dave Stenersen sat in a social studies class taking notes on the Continental Congress.
This was definitely a “Freaky Friday,” where the student became the principal and the principal became the student – for one day.
Earlier this fall, Northwood held its annual Fund Run, a fund-raiser that took in more than $43,000 for student activities. For every $10 a student raised, students were awarded a raffle ticket that they could place in one of 10 drawings. One of the drawings was for the chance to become “principal for a day,” and Combs was the winner.
Combs, 13, showed up for work in a shirt and tie and brought a T-shirt for Stenersen so that he would fit in as a student.
The day began with Combs emceeing the holiday band and orchestra concert. Part of the show included a joke-telling contest between the principal and student. The applause meter gave the win to Combs.
From there things got tough. Combs had Stenersen attend his social studies class while he took on his principal duties of disciplining students. Combs assigned 40 students to the weekend’s “homework club,” a gathering of students that missed assignments or had low test scores during the week.
He patrolled the halls on his skateboard and checked in on classes to make sure that the teachers were doing their jobs.
Combs also directed an ASB activity – leg wrestling for the seventh- and eighth-graders. With great authority, he paired the students up and supervised the event.
What did his friends think of all this? “They think it’s cool, but I won’t let them out of class, so they’re sort of mad at me,” said Combs.
Combs also got to have lunch with Stenersen at a nearby restaurant. The waitress came up to the table and said, “I hear you’re the new principal at Northwood.” She told him how her seventh-grade son informed her at 10 p.m. that he needed cookies for class the next day.
“As principal, could you do something about that? We need more notice on the cookies,” she said.
Overall it was a positive experience for Combs. His favorite part was “being all the teachers’ boss” and speaking before 709 students was a first for him.
“He handled the responsibility well,” said Stenersen.
This was the first year that Principal for the Day was a prize. “It should be very popular next year, after the students see the glory from Corey,” said Stenersen.