On Thursday, Aug. 18 and Friday, Aug. 19, students were invited by graduating class during Mav20 to meet in the auditorium with Principal Dr. Brian Young.

Speaking to the Class of 2023, Dr. Young opened up by stating, “You guys are so lucky… to go to Mead High School: the best school in St. Vrain, if not the best school in the entire state.”

He then told students that in order to be a part of a “championship group”, they must continue to go “above and beyond what the minimum expectations are”.

Using the minimum requirement of 24.5 credits to graduate high school as his example, Dr. Young said that almost every student in the room will have more credits than the minimum requirement.

He went on to say Mead students are expected to push themselves academically, in extracurricular activities, and within their friend, family, and community relationships.

“I am hoping that each and every one of you is taking or has taken an AP class, college level class, or… something at the Innovation Center or CETC,” he said.

If this isn’t the case, Dr. Young strongly encouraged students to visit with their counselors to add these classes to their schedule.

He elaborated, saying that senior year is the final year for students to explore free career-related classes.

“[Seniors] take full schedules all the way through… senior year,” he continued. “We don’t do the bare minimum.”

Dr. Young then pointed out the different religious and political beliefs, racial backgrounds, and home environments MHS students come from.

“That’s what makes this place so special… we provide that respect [to each other],” he said.

When speaking about the code of conduct, Dr. Young shared that there are certain behaviors that we do “not allow… to happen at our school”. These include threats of or direct harm to the school, a person, group, organization, or staff member. No discrimination is permitted through actions, writing, or social media posts.

Anything will be shut down that is meant to “harass, cause harm, [or disrupt the] learning environment”, said Dr. Young.

Weapons and illegal possessions on campus are also taken very seriously and can lead to expulsion.

He said, “I’m telling you out of a place of love… because I want you to be aware what the consequences are for these types of actions.”

Dr. Young also added that where students can eat has been restricted more in concern for student safety, saying that the goal “is to keep [students] safe”.

On the topic of safety, Dr. Young made it clear that propping doors open and leaving them unsupervised will not be tolerated.

“When we prop doors, we make ourselves vulnerable,” he stated. This also goes for letting peers and friends inside doors that aren’t the front doors.

As many students know, the tardy policy was changed multiple times during the 2021-2022 school year. As of now, there is no current tardy policy.

“Prove to us that we don’t need to do this [again],” said Dr. Young.

He told seniors that they need to be showing up on time, ready for class every single morning.

No distractions or food in classes will be tolerated. Cell phones and earbuds will be further restricted in classes this year.

As final pieces of advice, Dr. Young shared that students should always be leaning on administrators, counselors, teachers, parents, and others for support.

He said to “get involved and do as many things as you can”, but that these things can’t be done without support.