Jethzabel Perez Salazar, freshman, has had her name mispronounced by teachers and students alike. Typically, teachers and peers will pronounce the “th” in her name, but Salazar says the “th” is silent.

“It’s not that hard to pronounce but at the same time I understand because of the “th,” but sometimes it can get a little tiring having to correct them,” Salazar said.

During Ac Lab on Tuesday, Dec. 17, each Ac Lab homeroom projected a QR code to a Google Form that allowed students to be able to phonetically spell out their name to help teachers know how to correctly pronounce them. 

Salazar filled out the form, but isn’t confident it will help with mispronunciation. 

Freshman Principal Amy Sturges is in charge of the pronunciation forms. 

“It’s meant specifically for our announcers for graduation,” Sturges said. “As a teacher, I remember there were certain kids’ names I could never pronounce. I was like, what if I made a database of every student’s way of their pronouncing their name?”

In years prior, Sturges would wait to collect student names until their senior year. However, this year she decided it would be for the best if she collected all students’ phonetic spellings and a voice recording of how to pronounce their names. 

Sturges is currently working on creating a Google Drive folder for staff to be able to access the voice recordings. 

“If the teacher is struggling, they can go to the staff Drive, listen to the students say the name on their own time until it clicks,” Sturges said.

Abbey Gradle, photography teacher, said correct pronunciation is very important.

“I will never call roll at the beginning of the semester,” Gradle said. “I would much rather someone introduce themselves to me on day one in a lowkey, stress-free environment.”