There are many good changes happening at Andalusia High School this year.

With the new principal, Daniel Shakespeare, the school is choosing to have a more positive outlook.

To illustrate his point, Shakespeare had a table with a pile of rice sitting in the middle. "Anyone can be average in a big group of people, but it takes someone above average to separate themselves from the pile," Shakespeare told the student body as he picked up a single grain of rice and held it up to the students.

"We will not accept failure," Shakespeare told the entire student body at a school meeting held Wednesday. He also told the students that instead of focusing on the negative aspects of running the school, he wants to reward the good students.

At the meeting, the students said the Pledge of Allegiance and the freshmen were welcomed by the seniors, juniors and sophomores. The school faculty was introduced one-by-one and they each made their way to the stage.

Shakespeare told the students that he wanted to work on absences, tardies, check-ins and check-outs. There were approximately 4500 check-out's last year.

After the first day's meeting, the students went back to class with the exception of freshmen. The freshmen class was lead on a tour of the school by the student government officers.

The rest of the day was just normal first day activities -- listening to the class rules and issuing books.

For the second day back, there was another assembly for seniors. Shakespeare called the meeting to show the students appropriate and inappropriate dress for school.

He called the some students to dress up in clothes that were too tight, too short, tank tops or sagging. Then the students changed into their appropriate clothes and came back out on stage.

After that, the school guidance counselor, Jennifer Pitts, talked to the seniors about college scholarship and ACT deadlines. She told the students not to be afraid to come to her for help applying for scholarships.

The first week at Andalusia High School was a productive one. Now that everyone is getting the hang of things, I think we can look forward to a great year.