SLT planned many enhancements for this school year, but not all have turned out as well as its members had previously hoped.

SLT spearheaded projects such as adding water bottle fillers in hallways, new banners for the school fight song and alma mater,  an MVIP program which replaces the Jag Scratch Fever award and a Staff Cup similar to the Class Cup competition. It has also planned other future projects  such as a wall of fame for past state champions.

The Staff Cup involves all of the staff with four teams made up of different staff members. The different competitions usually center around the ‘Activity of the Week,’ with other spirit-themed days, such as wearing alma mater spirit wear.

SLT sponsor Ashley Agre, part of the student-teacher relations committee, considers the first competition a success.

“I for one had never been to a wrestling meet, so that incentive to go and watch [was quite enjoyable],” Agre said. “I really enjoyed it, and now I’ll go to another wrestling meet. [Also], there were a lot of teachers there; it was nice.”

Agre also expects the students to enjoy having teachers participate in events alongside them.

“I know a lot of students really just enjoy seeing their teachers out at events,so I hope this gets some teachers there,” Agre said.  “[I also hope that] it introduces them to new things that they haven’t ever been to before.”

Another program already set in place is the MVIP program. This new addition recognizes students who display good character and perform a selfless act that benefits the school, community or another person. Both students and teachers help to choose the winners each month, with a student panel making the final decision based on ballots and knowledge of the student. The first awards went to freshman Gracie Eckardt, sophomore Julia Kemp, junior Noah Callahan and senior Sarah Hall.

Renewing and refreshing this award was the student-to-student relations committee objective, according to senior Mitch Perkins.

“I think it’s a really good way of rejuvenating and bringing back the Jag Scratch Fever Award,” Perkins said. “That was our goal initially, to bring those back to life because they had become unimportant.”

Kemp, one of the first recipients, said she has tried to be a good person and has seen it paid off in the end.

“I’m nice to all my peers. I don’t necessarily try to be, but I was myself,” Kemp said. “[I was kind to my peers] and some teacher noticed it. It was really nice to be noticed like that.”

Students should be on the lookout for kind students doing unseen acts of kindness, according to Kemp, and the MVIP Program is a way to recognize the students.

“It will have students start looking at other students and find the good in other [people]. They will want to reward them for that,” Kemp said. “You want to look at a person and [think about] what makes them a good person and ‘Why would I want to nominate them?’ I think it’s a good award to have on your mind and think about.”

Junior Derek Meeks said funding certain projects has been the biggest hurdle for SLT this year and has hindered its progress.

“[The setbacks have been] mostly money because we don’t have any money going in,” Meeks said. “We either have to fundraise it or it has to come out of pocket. So, some of our projects have been limited as to what we can do just because of the budget.”

Sophomore Kacey Blair said this school year is a success for SLT and the group accomplished spreading the word about upcoming projects.

“I feel like we are making a lot of progress around the school,” Blair said. “People are becoming more aware of what we are doing and what we’re about … [I think SLT has been] pretty successful. I would say that it’s been the most successful of any past years.”

Blair wants SLT to have more exposure and wants to see the projects that she worked on be successful.

“I would like to see everyone be very aware of the group,” Blair said. “I’m in student-to-student [relations] so I would like to see MVIP being successful and the [projects] that we are doing be accomplished … that’s been our big [project] lately.”

SLT’s various projects should be done by the end of the year, according to SLT sponsor Erin Hayes.

“I would like to see [SLT] actually get their projects done,” Hayes said. “I feel like last year we had some good ideas but we never actually wrapped anything up. I want to see something that the student body can see what they are working on.”