Mary Kahn, superintendent of the Goleta School District, talks to students at Mountain View School about what they learned at the school. The annual exit interviews allow the students to reflect on their time and prepare for the future.
Mary Kahn, superintendent of the Goleta School District, talks to students at Mountain View School about what they learned at the school. The annual exit interviews allow the students to reflect on their time and prepare for the future. Credit: Daniel Green / Noozhawk photo

It’s never too early to start prepping your interview skills, even for grade-schoolers.

Mountain View School held its annual exit interviews for its sixth-grade students on Friday, inviting members of the community to talk to the graduating class about what they have learned at the school and their goals for junior high.

The interviews were held at the campus, where community leaders from the Santa Barbara and Goleta area were assigned two or three students to talk to. Before the meeting, the students wrote their interviewer a letter introducing themselves.

Questions from the interviewers ranged from math skills to how students have grown over the past year. They also talked about their experience working as part of a team and how they cooperated with others.

Principal Paige Dupont welcomes members of the community as they prepared to conduct exit interviews. Dupont praised the sixth-grade class as one of the best to ever come out of the school.
Principal Paige Dupont welcomes members of the community as they prepared to conduct exit interviews. Dupont praised the sixth-grade class as one of the best to ever come out of the school. Credit: Daniel Green / Noozhawk photo

Students were also asked about the kinds of books they read and what authors or series they enjoy. One girl told her interviewer that her favorite book is “Coraline,” by author Neil Gaiman.

Other questions asked the students about their lessons on ancient history and their favorite civilizations. Two of the most popular were China and ancient Greece. Earlier this year, the students performed a play about the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Bethany Bodenhamer, the dean of students at Dos Pueblos High School, talks to students about their education and what they learned at Mountain View School.
Bethany Bodenhamer, the dean of students at Dos Pueblos High School, talks to students about their education and what they learned at Mountain View School. Credit: Daniel Green / Noozhawk photo

This is the first time Principal Paige Dupont has participated in the exit interviews. She just completed her first year at the school.

Dupont said the experience helps students prepare for future interviews and allows them to reflect on what they have learned before heading off to junior high. She added that even though they are students, the interviews help them understand that being a student is preparation for the future.

Ahead of the event, the students receive the questions and practice with their class, teachers, and learn how to represent themselves professionally.

“We are sending off one of the most fantastic classes of sixth-grade students that we have ever seen at Mountain View, and we could not be more proud of their efforts, as well as the collaborative efforts of their teachers to support them on this journey and their next,” Dupont said.

— Noozhawk staff writer Daniel Green can be reached at dgreen@noozhawk.com.