It’s no secret that interviews can be nerve-racking encounters. There are responses to carefully rehearse, perfect outfits to select, aspects of your personality to highlight, traps to avoid, and important first impressions to make. Every moment counts.
Seniors at North Royalton High School already know this to be true. While many of them have perhaps engaged in part-time job interviews throughout high school, they recently participated in one interview that helped earn them a diploma.
The Class of 2018 recently completed their Senior Exit Interviews, a graduation requirement and one of the final components of a portfolio project that began as early as eighth grade. This black, leather-bound case contains several components that the seniors compile each academic year. Its contents range from a cover letter to career exploration essays to achievements to a copy of their transcript to a verification letter signed by the principal. Everything inside the portfolio is carefully thought-out by administration and collected to better prepare students for life post-high school. The high school implemented this graduation requirement more than a decade ago.
On Senior Exit Interview Day, students present this portfolio before a panel of three to four interviewers, which can be made up of teachers, school board officials and local business leaders, who grade them on things like language skills, punctuality, eye contact, responses and appearance. After their interview, students are evaluated by the panel and either receive a passing or failing grade – diploma or no diploma.
“I love this day because it’s so fun seeing a different side of the students,” said math teacher and interviewer Matt Ciha. “For many of them, this is the first time they’re being reflective about what they’ve done throughout high school and it’s their time to showcase their accomplishments. It’s a big confidence booster.”
It’s also a chance for students to engage with teachers in a much different way than they are accustomed to.
“You see a different side of them come out, their out-of-school personality,” said science teacher and interviewer Heather Jontony. “You see how they are in a professional type of environment.”
The panel asks students a range of dynamic questions including times they struggled or were creative to solve a problem. Questions also required seniors to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and explain in detail their plans following graduation. And just like in a real job interview, questions were built around students’ responses.
During one interview, a student revealed that he worked part-time at Best Buy. The panel than probed further, asking the senior to describe the skills he learned while working in customer service and explain a time those key skills were put to the test. During another interview, a senior was asked to be more specific when he stated that inspiring others was one of his strengths.
“The key to having a really good interview is having good stories,” Ciha told one senior during evaluation time. “Force stories into your interview. Your resume is like a black-and-white picture and your stories are how you color the picture.”
Interviewers didn’t take the evaluation portion lightly. For one senior, they gave unsatisfactory marks for the presentation and appearance of his portfolio, and for another, they said his responses were much too generic and sounded canned.
Senior Ryan Zarzour aced his interview but was instructed to inject more personality and not be timid to reveal more of his character.
“Students really take pride in this event,” said Career Specialist Jill Larson. “They look amazing, they’re dressed to the nines. It’s their opportunity to shine and get their feet wet for their future.”
Larson keeps a database on every single senior and meets with students individually to ensure their portfolio is complete and ready for evaluation. In English 11, students learn how to craft a resume, which goes into their portfolio. Seniors also write a mock cover letter for a job posting they research online. For the career exploration segment, students can participate in job shadowing, college visits, career speaker events, or take a career assessment. The achievements portion of the portfolio can include items like academic awards, certifications, test scores, athletic accomplishments, and top grades on various assignments over the years.
“The teachers really enjoy this day and each year we bring in different people from around the community,” Larson said. “This year, we have a rocket scientist from NASA. School is closed that day, there is academic testing going on, and it’s just a totally different environment for the students.”
According to information released by the high school, there are 389 students enrolled this school year in grade 12, and the high school recently earned Silver Status by U.S. News & World Report based on the College Readiness Index Value. In 2012, Newsweek listed NRHS as one of the nation’s top 1,000 public high schools.
According to Class of 2017 statistics released by the high school, 74 percent planned to attend a four-year college, 17 percent a two-year college, eight percent the workforce and one percent the military.

By SARA MACHO HILL
Contributing Writer