Sitting in her new office, reviewing future activities, and preparing everything for the Most Beautiful-Most Handsome Pageant, new student activities director Sylvia Palmer said she has had an interesting and exciting first week.

            She “definitely” feels overwhelmed with having taken the position mid-year, “but I would be almost disappointed if there wasn’t a lot going on,” she said.

            “Fortunately, I’m a good multi-tasker and I can assign responsibilities,” Palmer said. “I have a great Student Council to help me out.”

            “We (Student Council) are going to support her and giver her ideas. We are a big family and she is our Mom,” Student Council President Arin Duchene, a junior, said.

            Palmer loves the positive energy that the students and staff have.            “Unfortunately, it’s a characteristic not common to many schools… It was so refreshing to walk in and see people smiling; it was something I want to be a part of,” she said.

            Palmer plans “to promote Big Red Pride and to spoil teachers and staff because they do such a great job.”

            “I want them to know they are appreciated and to know that their work doesn’t go unrecognized,” she continued.

            Principles of Information Technology and Business Information Management teacher Terry Lopez, who also sponsors the Future Business Leaders of America, said that Palmer “has big shoes to fill…but…her experience will really help her out.”

            “I think she can really motivate the students…and I hope that she will continue to come up with exciting student activities that will be interesting for the students,” Lopez continued.

Palmer said that she wants “to continue the traditions and, as I learn more about the school, develop new traditions.”

“I want to support the clubs and students in any capacity that I can.”

Lopez said that she can help the clubs by giving them “ideas for fundraisers, setting things up on the calendar with the different events, and helping” with providing “contacts when we need to talk with people outside of school.”

Palmer’s greatest goal right now is to familiarize herself with the school “and to get a feel of the needs of the students and gear the activities toward those needs.”

Palmer is currently making the preparations for the Most Beautiful-Most Handsome Pageant which will be April 14-15. She is in charge of Student Council, Bel Air’s partners in education, and scheduling the use of the school’s different facilities.

Palmer graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in Psychology and is certified to teach Social Studies. She taught summer school Government at Eastwood High School. Palmer also owned her “paint your own pottery” business, At the Clayground.