For students in the APEX program, a new school year means new beginnings. The APEX Welcome Back Event on August 28th in the media center unveiled a new set of additional requirements. As well as, the introduction of an APEX leadership board for students and a panel of teachers to support this new leadership.
Members of Olympia’s honors program or ‘APEX’ are students accepted by an application process for a path of rigorous coursework. APEX students don’t just take challenging courses of AP and AICE classes but are also considered leaders on and off the Olympia campus.
“While other honor programs in high school only have 50 students total, we have 100 students per grade. We invite people to join us, we want people to accept that challenge, we want them to take the knowledge that we learn in APEX and spread it throughout this school,” APEX guidance counselor August Perrotti stated.
With such a big program of many students across multiple grades, the program lacked unification of this community. Senior Sydney Gass noticed this disconnect and began to have a discussion with AP World Teacher Ashley Phillips about how to address this issue. Her solution is a board of people from APEX composed of all the grades to bring their leadership ideas together.
“The APEX program is amazing! It’s been a great place for like-minded students like me to continue learning. It gives us a chance to connect with and truly learn from our teachers. So this year, our goal has been to create a greater sense of community within the program through more service events and other opportunities. That way we can use all the skills we’ve been learning in APEX to help others in the school around us,” senior Syndey Gass said.
The work of the APEX board has already started to be showcased on campus with the opening of the Agora. Titan Bucks is the new positive reinforcement system to reward good student behavior. Students can spend their Titan Bucks at the Agora for claw clips, candy, t-shirts, and all sorts of goodies. This wouldn’t be possible without the planning of the APEX leadership board and teachers’ panel. In addition to this, members of the APEX program will have the opportunity to join a new leadership class.
“The APEX board is an extracurricular activity, and we have created an APEX leadership class. That class is with Mr. Puchien sixth period and that’s a 6.0 class. Those students will be responsible for helping run the student store (the Agora) and planning/creating community service opportunities and social events for APEX,” Mrs. Phillips said.
Not only are these new additions building up our school community, but also building the prestige of the APEX honors program. With a stronger reputation for the program, Sydney hopes this “will influence more students to join or seek out more assistance for tutoring.” Students within the APEX program are strengthening their minds and the Olympia student body around them. Way to go Titans!
Interested in becoming a member of APEX? Send an email or meet with August Perrotti in Guidance to see if the APEX program is the right fit for you!
