SINCLAIRVILLE — Cassadaga Valley Central School has recently opened up and created new opportunities for students to take on more leadership roles in the district.

Four students among different high school grade levels were hired by the district as student influencers, and Superintendent Tammy Mangus said she plans to expand upon the concept by offering up to six more student positions in the coming year.

In past years, Cassadaga Valley students have voiced a concern of a lack of student involvement and school spirit in the middle and high schools. Participation dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic, and still has not reached the level it once was, according to students and Mangus. School officials hope the new positions bring a student-led voice to the school and help to spread information and advertise current events in the school from a different perspective than simply from administrators.

Aaron Richner, Cassadaga Valley Board of Education president, said one of the main purposes for the positions is the four students will bring a more “relevant presence” to spread information and great news rather than coming directly from the administrative offices, and Mangus praised the school board’s willingness to support this endeavor.

“This board works every day to support student opportunities,” Mangus said. “Their willingness to support any student experience is evident at every meeting.”

Students are more likely to thrive in an environment where they feel their voice is completely heard and ideas are seen, and the four newly hired students all mutually agree that through these positions they are given the chance to speak for the entire student body, and share the ideas and concerns of their peers.

Austin Gloss, a junior who will serve as the Sinclairville Elementary News Network liaison, said his goal with this job is to “leave ‘The Valley’ in a better way than he came into it.”

Additionally, Gloss said he is thrilled for this opportunity as he plans to work in the broadcasting field, where he will study journalism in college.

Justin Gonzalez, a senior at Cassadaga Valley is working in the district’s Information Technology field shadowing Director of Technology Phil Bens. Gonzalez said he is excited to learn more about the inner workings of computers and gain knowledge in areas he is not familiar with.

Cathryn Russell, a sophomore at Cassadaga Valley, is taking on the role of community engagement through making posts on the school’s Facebook page daily. Senior Isabella Dutton will be running a Cassadaga Valley Central School Instagram page.

The district’s idea of students having a role in the social media platforms is to help engage students, and the community. There will be a steady stream of posts throughout the week created by these students, and a feature story weekly. Additionally, having two high school students creating posts is set to help to establish a stronger connection between the students and community.

“Especially in rural environments, kids might not know all of the jobs that could be available to them,” Mangus said. “The single best way to pave the road to allow them to find a pathway to an outstanding career that they love is to give them the opportunity to try out different pieces of work. If the largest goal is that a student finds something that they’re passionate about, or that they get to practice and realize they don’t like something they thought they loved, then we won from the start. Through exploration, these positions will help them in becoming better readers, better writers, and better leaders.”