ABOVE: Fairmont High School Activities Director, Mat Mahoney, with one of the new signs which will be posted outside future athletic events.

FAIRMONT- A new student leadership group is being created at Fairmont High School. It’s led by Activities Director Mat Mahoney.

“We haven’t had a student group in Fairmont that’s just a positive leadership group for a while so we thought ‘let’s put something together.’ As far as I know we’re the only school in the Big South that’s going to try something like this,” said Mahoney.

Fairmont Leaders Aspiring Successful Heights, also known as FLASH, aims to promote positive behaviors in participating students which will then be reflected by other members of the student body.

“All of your high school experience you’re learning life lessons and I think that’s the number one key; how can you teach life lessons that are meaningful, engaging, and the kids can engage with,” said Mahoney.

The group is open to all students in grades 10 through 12 and will meet twice a month during SOAR time. Outside of programming within SOAR sessions FLASH is running a campaign designed to promote better conduct at sporting events.

Programming is expected to change over the course of the year.

“We’re going to learn, adjust, and tweak as we go but our main vision on this is called MAD; Make a Difference,” said Mahoney.

Each session will typically focus on one healthy practice or skill designed to promote higher achievement. Guest speakers and student led discussions are currently planned to be central activities.

Mahoney also plans to create a wall of shame and a hall of fame highlighting examples of positive and negative behavior. These are inspired by similar sections in the Gophers locker room at the Twin Cities.

Mahoney is also seeking feedback from students in order for the group to better respond to their needs and challenges.

“Working with kids now for 17, 18, years I’ve learned a lot… so I think having the kids’ input on some of this stuff is very helpful,” said Mahoney.

Students participating in athletics may already receive similar messages from their coaches, but FLASH intends to promote these messages throughout the school year and among students who participate in other activities.

Although the program will certainly face unexpected challenges over the course of its first year, Mahoney thinks any positive impact it may have will be a sign of success.

“Every high school kids’ high school experience is completely different and at the end of the day what I want out of this group is they have a positive impact on another student. If we can make one person’s high school experience better, then this leadership group was worth it,” said Mahoney.