40 students: Athletes, band mates, artists, and AP students, all from different demographics and backgrounds, with one thing in common, Bowie High School, and their role in bettering it.

Every six weeks, 40 students will be going to a FIT session with principal Mark Robinson to discuss the problems and strengths of Bowie. Robinson hopes to gain a pulse of Bowie through this aspect of the student voice initiative, and provide a line of communication between students and administration.

“I think too often adults make decisions thinking that they know what’s good for kids,  without really asking the kids, and so I just wanted to make sure that I had the opportunity to take the pulse,” Robinson said. “That informs me in my work, and I can also represent the students in  my conversations with faculty and staff, with district representatives and parents.”

The first Principals Panel was held September 28.

“In our first Principals Panel meeting, we got to talk to our principal about what we like in Bowie and things we want to see changed,” junior Katelyn Dill said.

In the first meeting, students were asked what they like about Bowie, and what they would like to see improve.

“I was really surprised by the answers I got because it was a pretty wide cross-section of things that people were interested in or felt like they needed to tell me,” Robinson said.

Students expressed concerns about things like the air conditioning, bettering band and athletics facilities, improving school lunches, and much more.

“That’s really good feedback for me in being able to educate our community about the bond initiative, because several of those concerns that the students had will be directly impacted by the bond passing in November, and in fact without that, the district may have to get kind of creative about how we fix things,” Robinson said.

Many people are interested in this new program, and the opportunities it has to offer.

“I think it’s kind of neat to have a direct channel between the student body and the principal,” school improvement facilitator, Ruth Ann Widner said. “I also think it just demonstrates to the student body that Mr. Robinson authentically cares about them.”

Many of the students in the panel saw the meeting as encouraging.

“I think what he wants to do for the school is great, it’s gonna be great for the students, the new kids in a few years,” senior Christopher Beltran said.

Since the program is new, it’s going to take time for it to become ingrained  in the school.

“I think that in the first year  the objective for me is just that it becomes established as a healthy, functioning, organization,” Robinson said.

As time goes on, the administration is hopeful that the principals panel will encourage students to be more vocal about problems they see around campus and give ideas of how those problems might be fixed.

“I would like for the students on the principals panel to become increasingly more comfortable with expressing what they think and problem solving,” Widner said. “I think that could really empower the students body.”