The RMHS High Five Club Is Back

With the school year in full swing, the recognition program known as the RMHS High Five Club has started again, with new seniors being inducted into the club for the past three weeks.

Senior Nate Boran was inducted into the highly prestigious club this past Friday, after seniors Kendall Brown and Samantha Brabeck were inducted earlier this month.

The High Five club recognizes one or two seniors a week that the RMHS administration chooses. In a letter outlining the club, the RMHS administration says, “The objective of the ‘High Five Club’ is to give positive acclaim to students for their exemplary behavior and performance.”

The process for choosing seniors to join the club starts with Assistant Principal Ms. Theriault sending out an email to the staff of RMHS asking for nominations. Ms. Theriault then picks one of the seniors nominated, saying that she chooses, “students that are representative of the core values, are good citizens, and make us proud.” Ms. Theriault says that there are no requirements to being a High Five club member, just to be a student that the staff is proud of.

Once a senior has been chosen, Ms Theriault goes to one of their classes and announces that they have received a High Five in front of their peers and teachers. After the announcement, she tells the student to go to the main office where they will get their “High Five Club” t-shirts to wear on Friday, as well as a quick questionnaire to fill out, asking them questions about their favorite book, quote, subject, activities that they do at the high school, and what their plans are for after high school. Once inductees complete the form they can give it to Mrs. Jorgenson at the main office.

On the Friday that the inductees wear their High Five t-shirts, they go to Mr. McCarthy to have their picture taken in the iconic charcoal grey shirts. Mr. McCarthy then takes the picture, and the answers that the students gave in their short questionnaire, and edits it down into a document. He then sends the document to the faculty and staff at RMHS, but also to many different establishments in Reading, including RCTV, the Daily Times Chronicle, and Reading Cooperative Bank. Mr. McCarthy has been doing this job for more than a decade now.

The High Five Club was started by Former Assistant Principal Mr. Scarpitto in his last year at Melrose High School more than 20 years ago. When Mr. Scarpitto came to Reading the next year, he also brought along the club. Mr. Scarpitto loved the club, saying in an interview with an Orbit contributor in 2011, “It’s not in my job description, but I love to do it and have a lot of fun with it.”