Position Assessment: Throughout online school thus far, I have taken the role of Ripon High’s junior class publicity officer by taking full charge over our class Instagram account and it’s posts. Through this, I have been able to publicize each event that has occurred this year, and am able to encourage our student body to get involved with our school’s events and activities, even if they’re virtual. I have given my best effort to include and showcase as many of my peers through our “Shoutout Sundays” on our class Instagram, which recognize different students each week for their impact on our school and student body. I’m indenting on bringing new and inclusive ideas to our class Instagram to get more of my peers involved, including “Takeover Tuesdays” as as well as “Foodie Fridays,” both circling the idea of encouraging our student body to want to be involved with our class, and that it’s a fun and positive place in such a world of chaos. In addition to this, myself, as well the rest of my fellow junior officers, created a class t-shirt design, ultimately resulting in nearly 60 sales. In terms of what I still need to accomplish in the possible near future, if or when we return to in person learning, I will be in charge of dressing up the mascot in the front office for each and every spirit day and must send in a picture to the Activities Director so that it could then be uploaded to RHS’s social media accounts.
Professional Development: Already this year, I have learned and practiced essential skills that are going to help me stay professional and become successful in terms of college and my future career. One in specific are my communication skills. Prior to Covid-19, communication had been a very important factor, yet now, it is detrimental to our program’s success. Thus far, I have focused on speaking efficiently throughout our zoom calls, been highly active in our class’s group chat where I effectively communicate my ideas for upcoming events, and most importantly, constantly update everyone on deadlines through texts and facetimes, and have been sure to keep everyone accountable for their work and when each task is due. Communication isn’t only important during high school, but is a basic skill that I’m going to carry throughout college and my future career. On top of this, the Leadership program has taught me to focus more on myself and my well being, rather than stressing over events that haven’t even happened yet. As a class, we’ve been reading chapters from the book “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” We’re only a few chapters in, and I’ve already learned several valuable life skills to help me cope with different mental blocks. Not only has this reading helped me mentally, but has also improved my reading and writing skills. I’ve always struggled getting my feelings out into words, but since we’ve started completing the Book Study questions, I’ve already found it so much easier to write out my thoughts.
Change / Concerns: The only concern I have for this year is when we return back to in school learning, the connections will not be present. Quarantine and the virus has distanced us from each other for a great length of time, blocking us from making any necessary relationships with our peers in the Leadership class. I feel that in order to be successful in our events and activities, we must know who we’re working with extremely well, and know each other’s strengths so that we can rely on each other to create the best possible outcomes. I know that during this time of distance learning, it is extremely difficult to get to know each other personally to make these connections, but a possible virtual solution is to do some basic get-to-know-each other activities, where we share about our lives and interests to help us become for familiar with each other, ultimately resulting in a more successful year.
Positive Comment: My positive comment is for Spencer Redula, one of the freshmen representatives. In our zoom classes, I’ve observed Spencer constantly stepping up to speak for the freshmen, which is not an easy thing to do when you are the youngest out of the rest of the class. In addition to this, I’ve heard from the other freshman representatives that Spencer has taken initiative in each activity they’ve been assigned to, and is often found organizing the group and their discussions, and keeping everyone accountable. I feel that Spencer is a key member of the freshman team, and has really stepped up and proved his abilities thus far.
My Impact: I feel that I’ve changed the world today but just bringing overall positivity and joy to those around me. I’ve always been known as the friend who’s always laughing at random times, and always smiling or giggling, and that’s one thing I’m genuinely proud of. I love the thought of spreading my joyful attitude onto others when they are around me, and I’m overwhelmingly happy that I can help others stay positive in such a hard time in the world. As for my impact on this campus among my peers thus far is essentially the same idea. I’m always trying to radiate positivity, and be someone who anyone feels comfortable sparking up a conversation with. I believe that I appear this way to some of my peers due to the fact that some of my peers who I have never spoken with have come to me with their questions regarding Leadership and other school related questions. Although they’ve never talked to me previously, I feel that they see me as someone who’s not here to judge, and someone they can easily speak to.
ASB Report October & November
December 1, 2020 Junior Class Publicity Officer
Position Assessment: Having spent nearly half a semester doing online school through zooms and finally returning back to in-person learning just this week, I have worked my hardest to continue to fulfill each and every duty that falls under the role of Ripon High’s junior class publicity officer, throughout all of the madness. I’ve continued to take full charge over our class Instagram account, along with creating it’s reminder posts and inclusive Instagram stories. Through this, I have been able to reach out to the Junior class to remind them of each important event our school has put on as well as encouraging our student body to participate in the activities possible during this time. I’ve done my best to stay active on the account by posting small Instagram stories here and there with polls and questions so that our class is able to interact and have a chance to reveal their feelings towards our events. In addition to this, my junior team and I worked hard to score high in the first ever Fall Fest. We spent our time at Emma’s house decorating her front porch to match our theme as well as planning, organizing, and pursuing our idea of a harvest themed tractor as our float that had been revealed to our student body and teachers at our Fall Fest drive through. While at the drive through, a few of my junior officers and I worked shirt sales, and were able to sell a few extra shirts we had leftover. Lastly, I attended the Dude Be Nice reveal at the amphitheater, where I was able to gift Mr. Perez with a handwritten card I had made. In terms of what I still need to accomplish in the possible near future, if we continue this path of in-person learning, I am in charge of dressing up the mascot in the front office for every spirit day, and must send in a picture to the Activities Director so that it could then be uploaded to Ripon High’s social media accounts.
Professional Development: From the few months that I’ve been enrolled in this program, I have already learned many essential skills that are going to lead me to success when it comes to college and my future career, including professional speaking skills as well as detrimental communication habits. Within the month of November, we were instructed to research future careers that you are interested in, and select one for a mock-interview later in the year. I’ve always stressed over the idea of college and what I want to do after high school, but after sitting down and spending time educating myself on the possible paths that I may take, I was able to organize my thoughts, and become more content with my future worries. Now reaching the end of the semester, I feel I’ve really begun to realize the importance of high school honor and AP credits, pushing me to stay focused and dedicated during this difficult transition of online school back into the stresses of reality.
Change / Concerns: Returning back to in-person learning immediately created concerns and worries within my mind regarding the entire Covid-19 situation. Although a group of protocols have been created in an attempt to keep everyone safe from the virus, I worry because I know that many students enrolled at Ripon High are going to disrespect these rules by not wearing their masks properly and not abiding by the social distancing rules, essentially risking the safety of myself as well as the rest of my peers and teachers. In addition to this with Covid cases recently rising, I fear that our school may be forced to shut down once again, sending us all back home to continue the year through zooms, which is disappointing due to the fact of how happy and grateful so many people were to finally return back to campus. Yet, this may still be the safest option in the end, so we have to respect whatever decision our school must make.
Positive Comment: My positive comment for the months of October and November is towards Naomi Wilbur, our Junior Class President. Although I’ve had lots of fears and worries coming into the leadership program so late into high school, I’m grateful to have Naomi working right alongside me. She’s done an amazing job staying on top of each duty for her position while still looking out for me and jumping in to help me whenever I look lost or confused. Naomi had been one of the key reasons I joined the program this year mainly because of how much she truly seemed to enjoy the program, and how dedicated she was to making each event run as smoothly as possible, and I wanted to be a part of her team. I’m so grateful to have her not only as a peer, but as a great friend who I know will do great things in this program and far beyond it as well.
My Impact: I feel that my impact currently is just the overall positivity and joy that I radiate to those around me. I love the thought of spreading my joyful attitude onto others when they are around me, and it makes me so warm inside to know that I can help others stay positive and feel welcomed while everything is changing so drastically. In addition to this, I also do my best to be someone anyone could feel comfortable coming up to and asking a question, or just talking to if they’re alone at school. On the first day back to in-person school, I had three freshmen, who I haven’t seen since I was back in elementary school with them, come up to me and ask me where certain classes were. I loved the thought of being someone they weren’t afraid to talk to, and I thought about that tiny, positive impact I made on each one of them for the entirety of that day.
ASB Report February & March
March 17, 2021 Junior Class Publicity Officer
Position Assessment: As most of the student body is now attending school on campus, rather than virtually, opportunities are starting to arise, and the Junior Class and I are beginning to start planning many new projects, the major one being Homecoming. As the overall theme this year is "Blast From the Past," my team and I decided on the class theme of concerts, where I am working my hardest to create choreography as well as a poster that relays this theme to the best of my ability in an attempt to win. Also in preparation for Homecoming, I have created the music for our dance sync and am working collectively to ensure that we have all of the props needed in order to score as high as possible. I'm also a part of the Balloon Arch Committee where I will assist my peers next Friday in setting up an arch for Homecoming. In addition to this, within the month of February, the class was assigned with an ABC coloring packet as well as personalized clovers to hang on the windows for Saint Patrick's day in replacement of the Valentine's Day hearts. I helped cut out and write messages on a majority of the shamrocks, as well as ensured permission from Mrs. Pendelton to use her windows for this activity. Lastly, I created a Senior sport's spotlight flyer and Instagram post to highlight a Senior who may not have gotten to play their last season, and helped Anthony to add construction paper to the back of each flyer to add stability. As always, I'm continuing to run our class Instagram where I update my peers on events, and remind them of important information through stories and posts.
Professional Development: Within these past two months, I have been learning in great detail all of the aspects that you should take into account when creating a proper resume, including the order in which the information is displayed, word choice, and format. I've used these skills not only to create a leadership resume, but also to create a personal resume that I've already used to apply to Starbucks and Peace Love Shaved Ice just recently. Adding onto this, I've also been researching and preparing for my upcoming mock interview with a professional, where I will also need to use a great majority of the skills I've learned in this class thus far to appear as the most credible employee possible. To do this, I have read several questionnaires and write-ups from Neonatal nurses nationwide that have given me a great amount of insight as to what to expect in my possible future. As always, I have been pushing myself to stay on top of my grades to keep the GPA that I attain currently, and have been watching review videos while taking notes in an attempt to prepare for my two AP exams that are approaching in the near future.
Change / Concerns: One of Ripon High's Covid-19 protocols enforces the rule that there must be specific seating charts within each classroom to minimize the amount of individuals interacting with one another, yet there is a flaw within this that states that kids will only get sent home if they were exposed for over 15 minutes, which worries me greatly. Essentially, if I move to work with another student who has the virus, yet I was only working with them for say 10 minutes, I would not have to be sent home and quarantined, which therefore allows me to possibly spread the coronavirus due to the fact that I'd still be on campus. Although I know it is difficult to be 100% safe all of the time while on campus, this is one of my great concerns.
Positive Comment: My positive comment for the months of February and March is towards the clovers that we hung around campus for St. Patrick's Day. I feel that although we did not have enough time to plan out our typical Valentine's Day hearts that Leadership creates each year, this small change was simple yet effective. The shamrocks did not take too much time to plan and create, added a great amount of spirit and color to our campus that had been lacking, and gave the student body and activity to be involved in. It was a quick activity that everyone on campus seemed to love and appreciate.
My Impact: In general, I feel that my impact is just keeping our student body, mainly the Junior Class, optimistic and excited for the future. Through the use of our class Instagram, I am consistently hyping up my peers, and encouraging them to want to be involved in whatever event we are able to put on, no matter how small or new it may be. I feel that in order for those around me to want to participate and think an event is essentially worth it, I must be the first to do so and act as a role model that others will hopefully follow. For instance just recently, as Homecoming is kicking off in roughly one to two weeks, I speak up in my classes reminding them of what's coming up, and get them excited for an event that mostly everyone looks forward to each year. Although it is not going to be identical to the one's we've had in the past, I am doing my best to keep the spirits of those around me high, and not let their hopes get let down.