On Thursday, February 26, students in eighth, tenth and twelfth grade took the Prevention Needs Assessment Survey. The study is state sponsored and organized by the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition.The survey is given every two years to students in high schools around Massachusetts, and the results of this anonymous survey are returned after a few months to the administration of Mt. Greylock.

Since the surveys are given every two years to eighth, tenth and twelfth graders, current seventh, ninth and eleventh graders will not take the survey in their time at Mt. Greylock. Meanwhile, the students who have taken the survey already will always take it every other year. This means only half the student body of Mt. Greylock will ever be polled.

Assistant Principal Jacob Schutz said,“[the survey] takes a snapshot, a kind of a picture in time, that targets students’ feelings about the community, their family, their school, and how that relates to any risky behaviors, such as drug use.”

As to what the school does with the survey, Schutz said, “We compare our results to the community and to the rest of the State. And that’s something we use for planning purposes as far as things we need to try and help with or things we need to focus on to keep students safe.”

The 8th grade students have taken this survey for the first time at Mt. Greylock. We asked them their general opinions on the importance of this survey. Thoughts ranged from and that students thought  “it was useful,” to, at the same time, very unuseful, as “ some people were lying on it.” Many students thought that “ the survey wasn’t horrible to take,” while others thought that “yes, it was horrible.” Overall Students had mixed feelings on the survey and its importance.

Written by Jacob Hane & Tenley Smith