Whiz Kid: Robert Mears

Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Robert Mears           

Whiz Kid’s Age: 14

Whiz Kid’s Grade: Eighth grade

Whiz Kid’s School: Galloway Township Middle School

Whiz Kid’s Accomplishment: Robert Mears presided over the first Galloway Township Student Council to make an amendment to the school’s constitution. Because of the amendment, council representatives will now be selected by the school’s social studies teachers and not by the student body.

Whiz Kid’s Keys to Awesomeness:

“Our adviser told us at the beginning of the year to look around the room,” Mears said. “He said less than half of you will still be here at the end of the year. He was right.”

That’s when Mears and the other members of council decided it was time to do something that had never been done before by a student council at Galloway Township Middle School: It was time for an amendment.

“Instead of being elected to student council, social studies teachers will now select the representatives,” Mears said. “We’ve had atrocious attendance, and our council adviser said that would be a better idea.”

If an appointee doesn’t work out, the council has the right to reject that student, and the teacher who appointed them would have to select a replacement.

“We’ve had a large impact,” Mears said of the council. “The council has been around since 2001, and this is the first amendment. I’d say we’ve had the biggest impact.”

And Mears was at the head of it. Mears believes he was elected to be the president of the council this year because of his public speaking skills. He is also pursuing a scholarship for student leadership.

Mears would like to continue his student council career next year when he attends Absegami High School, but he faces one dilemma. The student who someday wants to be an Army Ranger and is currently a Boy Scout is also a wrestler.

“Being a wrestler at Absegami is a six-day a week commitment,” Mears said. “I’m not sure if I can do both, so I’m considering what I want to do.”

It’s a tough decision, but Mears isn’t unfamiliar with making tough decisions. All he has to do is use the same approach that helped he and his council decide it was time to change the school’s constitution.

“We used logic, common sense and facts,” he said.

And now no one will ever forget Mears or the other Whiz Kids on council.