If Warren County School District’s reconfiguration process involves closing a high school, the most immediate and direct impacts are going to be on students.

At Tuesday’s public engagement session to discuss reconfiguration, several students had their voices heard.

“Have any of you viewed it from a straight student perspective?” Dylan Hardwick said. “This stuff scares me and worries me.”

He said students at Sheffield “all receive the option to receive education at whatever school we want. I personally don’t know anyone who has chosen any other school. That speaks for itself.”

“If you were to consolidate schools what would happen with mascots and school colors?” Peyton Bailey asked. “If there’s going to be change for someone, there should be change for everyone in the school.”

“Less students and smaller activities in Sheffield creates a tighter bond,” Emily Davidson said. “Reconfiguration places us students from Sheffield at risk for poor academic performance. Not to mention fewer opportunities for those with fewer athletic abilities.”

“If you ship us off to another school, we’ll all be at the bottom of the food chain,” Wyatt Lewis said.

“Sheffield is not just a school, it’s a community,” Owen Cable, who attended Warren schools before starting high school at Sheffield, said. “Students are the most important thing here. Not money… Students and athletes.”

Jeremiah Richardson presented the perspective of someone who has been a student at both Sheffield and, more recently, Warren high schools.

“I joined sports through Sheffield,” Richardson said. “I love Sheffield.”

“Honestly, I can say, Warren isn’t that bad,” he said. “Everyone kind of minds their own business at Warren. There’s not a lot of bullying. There’s not a lot of disrespect.”

“I’ll always be proud to be part of both communities,” he said.

District officials and representatives of Strategy Solutions, the contractor assisting the district with reconfiguration, said there will be meetings with student leadership groups at each of the four high schools.