Students were lining up to ask questions after an hour of listening to the same person talk.  Nothing like that has ever happened in my four years at JC and, unsurprisingly, it was the result of a guest speaker.

Student body engagement should be something sought by the administration. Students desperate to have their questions answered should be something teachers celebrate.  Kids raising their hands in class to discuss an assembly should be considered a victory for all involved.

Gerry Sandusky spoke about problems that students face at this point in their lives.  He used language that endeared him to the students, but even with complaints about his mild swearing, no one can deny that his message was one that high school students needed to hear.

Sandusky was able to present his message with humor and engaging anecdotes. Students were actually lining up to ask him questions at the end of his talk instead of awkwardly sitting in bored silence.  The benefit was obvious and it created discussion for days afterwards.

Speakers provide an invaluable experience that can’t be replicated in the classroom.  If a teacher disagrees with the use of the word “jackass” in an assembly, it should lead to a discussion in a classroom about freedom of speech or how to speak to different groups. Having an advisory dedicated to talking about the speaker was a great chance to share opinions.

If someone wants to bring up a point that they disagreed with, they should be encouraged to share their opinion. Kudos to the teachers who opened their classes up to talk about the assembly.

If speakers are so beneficial to discussion and current issues, why aren’t they invited to JC more often? If JC decides to only splurge on a paid speaker once a year, that’s plenty.  However, people like Sandusky came free of charge, which is exactly what we should be looking for.

There are plenty of people that would love to speak at JC for free, especially alumni.  We could learn valuable lessons from the people who were once where we are now, particularly highly successful alumni.

JC is a college preparatory school.  While learning all you can from your classes is all well and good, knowing the Pythagorean Theorem and hearing from people in the real world provide two very different kinds of knowledge, both of which are important to life after high school.

Martha Schick is the Multimedia Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.