As the students of MSMS walk through the halls of Hooper Academic Building or Goen and Frazer Residence Halls, they can spot new faces all around them. A new Director for Academic Affairs and Director for Advancement, two new math teachers and a host of new RAs bring their fresh skills and perspectives to the school this year. In January, a new Executive Director is set to be introduced. This high amount of turnover in staff and administration has instilled hope and concern alike in MSMS students.

Senior Madeline Raynor showed excitement at the prospect of change in administration under Dr. Clear Moore, the new director for academic affairs.

“I think the eagerness of her, right out the gate, being like, ‘I’m very, very open to diversity, I want to do all these diversity sessions and I want you guys to have these book sessions’…she was very, very excited to, you know, learn more about diversity, and the experiences of Black students especially I think, and the LGBTQ community too…,” Raynor said. “I think that really signaled that she was going to be, you know, a good fit.”

Senior Audrey Robinson discussed her uncertainty with how Residence Life will adjust to having only one director between both residence halls. LaToya Bledsoe took the new position of Residence Life Coordinator after Hansel Jackson departed the school.

““I’m afraid that it will be a lot for [Bledsoe] to handle, but I know that she’s very capable and very good at her job,” Robinson said. “But again, I don’t know the inner workings of ResLife, so I’m hoping that they’ve built a good support system for one person to be carrying two dorms.”

The two additions to the math department faculty, Spencer Hall and Dr. Andrew Pham, caused only slight nervousness for Raynor.

“I think it’ll be a bit rough and bumpy for everyone, especially for the new math teachers because I’m not sure if Dr. Pham has ever taught high schoolers before,” Raynor said. “I’m afraid that I’m just not gonna be able to pick up the way that they’re teaching, but from what I hear of Dr. Pham, he seems like he’s doing a collaborative, effective way of teaching for students. I feel like the young teachers, they get it.”

With regard to Executive Director Dr. Germain McConnell’s looming departure, senior Tucker Jaudon had his own worries.

“I kind of expect a lot to change because Dr. McConnell–for how much we kind of make fun of him–he’s a really nice guy. Because we’re at MSMS, and we kind of change our own rules, the students get to control things, but if we have someone come in that is not okay with that, a lot of people are just going to be very displeased.”

Like Jaudon, Robinson at first expressed concern over the change in power, more so because the shift is slated for the middle of a school year.

“I’ve been in a school district where there was a transfer of power halfway through the year, and it didn’t go well,” Robinson said. “It was really messy. The new person came in, trying to change too much at once while also being stricter than the one before. It was very overwhelming for students, so I’m definitely worried about it to an extent.”

Despite her previous experience, Robinson later made it clear she believes MSMS will handle the process better than she saw it handled in her home district.

“I know that the school does a good job of finding admin who are very well equipped for their jobs and are ready to hit the ground running and take up all of those big responsibilities,” Robinson said.