New to RHS this year is a leadership class taught by Katherine Gross and Farron Riggs. The juniors and seniors in the class are tasked with organizing successful and fun school events.

The goal is for students to become stand-out leaders in the school. With only one class period, friends who signed up together were guaranteed to be together. The class is responsible for planning school events such as fundraisers, pep rallies and homecoming. Since all the members of this class are upperclassmen, they are the most experienced with high school events and know what the student body likes.

“We aren’t only learning about how to be leaders, but actually becoming the leaders in our student body,” senior Gabrielle Moran said. Moran feels “it is extremely beneficial for students to plan the pep rallies because it’s more student based; we know what the students like.” The class took on responsibility for homecoming events, changing the voting system for courts and choosing spirit days.

“The daily agenda really depends on the week and what we have on our plate,” health teacher Katherine Gross said. “We are responsible for pep rallies, homecoming, prom and much more.” Since leadership class is primarily for planning events, students have something new to work on every day. They are also learning essential business skills such as networking, fundraising and communicating effectively.

Principal Billie-Jean Bensen was responsible for bringing the class to RHS. Since she used to teach this class at Magruder, she worked with Gross over the summer to prepare for the class. “We are using curricula used by other schools,” Bensen said. “The students are learning business skills, such as writing business emails and proposals.” Bensen felt that there was a need for a course to develop school leaders.