With their freshman year cut short, the class of 2023 began this school year remotely. The current sophomore class held their first class elections this year after finding an advisor. With Social Science teacher Michael Lightbody as the advisor, the elections were held on December 21st, 2020.
Many students ran for positions and had campaign posters posted all over social media. The results from the election ended with Kyle Lee as president, Kelly Le as vice president, Isabella Ivy as secretary, Allison Yu as treasurer, Siena Lee as historian and two social media coordinators Noelle Hayes and Maria Ganoza.
Ivy’s role as secretary is to “keep active notes and records and help plan fundraising.” Her goal as an officer is to “attend all meetings and contribute as much as [she] can,” while also keeping up with her school work.
With everything being virtual, the officers meet via Google Meet. Ivy believes the virtual meetings are successful despite the circumstances. All the officers “make an effort to be on time to the meetings and [they] all turn [their] cameras on.” The class officers are doing their best to bring their ideas together. She thinks everyone still needs time to adjust and “learn to go the extra mile and take an extra step in [their] officer roles.”
Siena Lee’s role as historian is to “assist the social media managers to make advertisements, artwork, and any necessary collages for events or fundraisers, as well as just take place in meetings as a voice for [their] plans.” A personal goal she has is to be able to take photos of future school events “to remember this part in [the] school's history.”
Having meetings online and virtually have been more difficult to plan and contribute to now. Lee explained that “[it is] a lot easier to reach the other officers in the hallways or classes, rather than finding them through social media.” While working collaboratively remotely is completely different than it would be in person, Lee thinks the officers are doing well handling their new roles.
With everything being planned online, it is important to keep in mind that “not all officers are consistently available for the meetings,” which has made her notice that their roles as officers are “a lot more minor when online.” Though everyone contributes as much as possible when it comes to advertising and fundraising.
As social media coordinators, Hayes and Ganoza “post important information for [the] class and for the school on [their] Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages to answer any questions [or] concerns.” Hayes was very excited when she was announced as a class officer. She “knew all of the people that [the] class voted for would be amazing in their positions” and is looking forward to working with everyone.
Getting students to be involved is something that Hayes hopes for as the class produces more fundraisers. Communication is key, in times like these, but can be difficult “because not everyone is comfortable with phone calls or video calls, and a lot of people’s schedules have changed.”
Yu’s role as treasurer “is to oversee all the funds [the] class raises.” This includes keeping track of when and how funds are allocated and providing any insight into financial decisions. Her goal as an officer is to “organize as many fundraisers for [the] class this year.” Yu’s personal goal is to be more involved within the community and improve her public speaking skills. Many of the officers agree that “each officer suits their position.” All the officers “excel in finishing tasks and meeting objectives.” However, being new to these roles in a different setting comes with disadvantages as well. Yu feels as though “[they] can improve on sharing ideas and taking an initiative.”
Lightbody’s main goal “is to catch up on fundraising” and start planning for big future events such as Junior Varieties and Prom. Meeting online has not been ideal but “it [has not] been hard.” With the abrupt occurrence of the pandemic, the sophomore class has only been in the building for less than a year. This has left many students to not be able to form meaningful relationships and bonds. Lightbody was “very impressed with how the [officers] jumped to make [the] first fundraiser successful.” He is looking forward to going back to school and hopefully hold more fundraisers with more students involved.
With time lost from the pandemic, the class of 2023 officers began planning for fundraisers as soon as they could. The first fundraiser they planned was a popcorn sale. The fundraiser was a success as “[they] raised higher than [their] intended goal” said Yu. She stated how “there was much support from the rest of the grade, in terms of buying popcorn, as well as donations.” The event ran smoothly, though Lee thinks “[it would have been] easier to access and advertise if it were in front of the lunchrooms like usual or through morning announcements.”
The class of 2023 is currently hosting a class t-shirt contest. The funds from the previous fundraiser will go towards “t-shirts [being] made and sold to the rest of the class.” They currently have two design submissions “and a winner will be announced soon.” The winner of the contest will receive a free t-shirt and the money will help future fundraisers.
