At the end of April 2024, seminars at Atlantic High School decided on values they thought would positively affect AHS and the community. Students wrote down the main values they thought were important, then the community dwindled it down to four core values that created a word, and that word was HARK.
HARK was created to maintain honesty, accountability, respect, and kindness within the walls of AHS.

Principal Heather McKay said that the goal of HARK was to improve life skills and relationships; not only for high school, but for the future as well. “It’s about learning to take accountability, and how to maturely have healthy conflict and find a solution,” McKay said. HARK values are being used to help resolve conflict in school. “Many detentions have been ripped up,” said McKay. HARK has made a positive impact on student-to-student relationships according to McKay. She described how students have been showing each other more kindness and respect which has decreased the bullying throughout our school. HARK was also formed with the goal of forming stronger values within not just the school, but the community as a whole.
Resource teacher Jim Brauer, said that he has seen HARK change our school very positively. Brauer has noticed students being kinder and respecting each other more than in prior years. Brauer said that he has noticed the teacher and student relationships growing and progressing. “It’s not the teacher and the student having an issue, its the teacher and the student having an issue with the behavior, and as a result I think this is actually strengthening the relationship between the two,” he said.

Sophomore Maddie Myers said that she thinks Hark has made a very positive impact on our school. Myers has seen students helping each other with homework. Myers said, “everyone should use HARK.”
Junior Noah Mass sees a difference in bullying around the school. Mass saw other students showing kindness, a core value of hark, when milk got spilled in the cafeteria. Instead of laughing, other students helped clean up the mess. “This showed kindness to the student who spilled it, and respect to the school and custodians,” Mass said.
AHS counselors Alyssa Boltz and Jesse McCann explained the inspiration behind HARK. They described how during their restored practice training, they wanted to come up with some core values for our school to help build the relationships around the school.