Ms. McCrary: Student Life Director and Visionary

Throughout the time Ms. McCrary has been working at our school, the most noticeable thing she has seen is how Galloway has grown and preserved its individuality. Students and Galloway as a whole are always changing, and because of this, Ms. McCrary, faculty, and staff really make it their mission to aid students in fueling student individual pursuit and passion in order for us to have a positive high school experience.

Ms. McCrary has defined student life as “the part of life at Galloway that goes along with the education that helps the students become who they are.”

For the past 22 years, Student Life Director Felicia McCrary has seen the Galloway Upper Learning student life grow, expand, and change in positive ways because of its students. It is very clear that Galloway is the type of school that is different from others, but in being different, Galloway has opportunities that most schools do not. Ms. McCrary gave insight on the other schools and how their student life is centered around discipline and enforcing handbooks. Galloway, on the other hand, focuses more of its attention on student expression and interests. By being relatively new to the Galloway community, I can definitely confirm that Galloway is unique. For example, Ms. McCrary has told me about her idea to give every student the opportunity to go on an out of the country trip.

Sometimes we forget how fortunate we are to have the student life we have here. We forget how much work goes into the planning and preparing of our retreats and our activities. I know I was not appreciative of the mandatory Freshman Experience class, but looking back, I see how it helped me, the new kid, meet my classmates and have a break from the new high school environment. It made me closer to some of my best friends. I can confidently say that without Ms. McCrary’s organizing that I would not be as happy with my high school experience as I am today. And for her works, she appreciates credit (preferably in double stuff Oreos and Starbucks), but does not expect it. She explained to me how student life is sometimes underappreciated because of the belief that all schools have a student life similar to or better than ours. When in reality, Galloway is a rare gem.

Overall Ms. McCrary’s ideas are fueled by her love for our students and seeing them grow. Her priority has been making sure our voices are heard, whether it be at town hall or one-on-ones with staff. She stated that she would simply “not go the extra mile, if not for the students” and continued by saying how all the staff here genuinely love the students. In fact, Madam Belfi (French teacher)  has created a faculty hype committee dedicated to supporting students at sports games and theatre productions. The Galloway staff and Ms. McCrary truly work hard at making sure that our freedom, our culture, and our opportunities are preserved and passed down from generation to generation.

By Jada Ryce