Students take charge at Christian academy

MOSES LAKE — Three fifth-grade students were put in charge of the Moses Lake Christian Academy for one day last week.

Last Monday Maaike Mensonides was the principal. Taylor Yamane and Noah Roberts were co-vice principals.

While the students were learning what it was like to be in charge of the school, Principal David White took time to act as a student.

Prior to the swap, there was an auction held to raise funds for the academy. White offered the idea of having a student to be principal for a day. The package was auctioned to Maaike’s family and she got to choose two friends to be vice principals.

She said she didn’t know who to pick, so they drew straws, which led to Taylor and Noah being chosen.

During their time in charge, they made a few rules many students appreciated. They proposed a “no math homework day,” made recess time twice as long for a day and banned spelling tests for one week.

They also took a tour of school and got to visit off-limites areas, including the roof, Maaike said.

“Our favorite thing was exploring on the roof,” Noah said. “We got to go into places no one else does.”

The three students participated in a teacher observation. They visited a classroom and took notes on the teacher’s abilities. All together, they decided the teacher did a good job.

“We took notes on how well the teacher paid attention,” Maaike said.

They also compiled a list of other suggestions for consideration by the academy, Taylor said.

They suggested headphones for the computers, an outdoor water fountain, science fairs, French fry Friday and a bigger outdoor slide.

They also presented a finance report. In the report they had to determine the number of students attending the academy and the cost to attend.

Maaike and Taylor said the hardest part of being principal and vice principal was preparing reports because they accidentally erased one.

They also contacted student’s parents to ask them what they liked about the school.

While Maaike was acting as principal for the day, she said one of the exciting parts was when Mayor Ron Covey called. The mayor called to congratulate her, she said.

She said she would offer to be principal the following day too.

“Being principal is fun,” Noah said.