Private school visitors shadow East students

Monday, March 29, junior Kyle Engelken woke up at the same time he always did. He went to school, parked in the junior lot, and headed to class. But today he was not alone. Today, before going to first hour, Engelken met Matt. Someone who would watch his every move, and critique not only him, but all of the students at Shawnee Mission East along with teachers and classes. Today, Engelken had student shadow.

A shadow is a student who comes from a private school and follows around a student from a public school to see what that atmosphere is like. Engelken’s shadow is currently an eighth grader at “Christ the King”, a K-8 school in Kansas City, KS, and shadowed Engelken for one of several “Private School Shadow Days.”

“The counseling office called me in one day and asked me if I would be alright with having a shadow,” Engelken said. “I figured it could be fun so I decided to do it.”

Though Engleken had never met his shadow before, he felt that the day was pretty typical, he just happened to have an extra pair of eyes following him around. Engelken said that despite his shadow being somewhat intimidated, he thought that he liked East and was planning on attending next year.

The “Private School Shadow Day” has been an organized project for the past two years, compared to prior years where shadows were usually just friends of East students who would follow them for a day. The event is specifically for students considering leaving private schooling or home schooling for a taste of public school life. This year alone, there have already been 13 days specialized for private school students to come and shadow at East , and there are at least two more visits scheduled.

Private Schoolers have a list of 37 East students that they can follow, all of which are members of “Link Crew”. This list includes the extracurricular activities that the East Student is in, so that the shadower can see what they want to see for that day. The days that the student shadows come are specially picked so that the shadow will receive the entire East experience.

“I think that the day is a good idea because its kind of like a college visit,” Engelken said.

The next shadowing day is on April 12 and is the last scheduled day. Five students are said to be participating.