By Madeline Williams

Staff Writer

   UC High ASB and faculty are trying their best to promote school spirit during the pandemic by hosting virtual events like Club Rush, Back to School Night, and virtual competitions like the Class Cup over social media and video conferencing.

   ASB initially planned on allowing students to get involved with clubs by having Club Rush, a UC High tradition, over Zoom on the first of October. However, the event was cancelled last-minute. According to ASB Advisor Donna Fallon, “Due to the new Zoom update, we needed to cancel because students were experiencing difficulties connecting with their school account.” The new question is  how they are going to host Club Rush at all with the new Zoom update that doesn’t allow students to host meetings using their school accounts. “It’s frustrating because this was supposed to be a planned event, but with discussion we will figure out what is next for clubs and their activities,” concluded Fallon.     

   Back to School Night, which was on September 23 from six to eight at night, saw a little more success. Through this online event, the administration tried to curate an experience that would engage students and parents in class participation and also help them adjust to the new school year online. The event also served to familiarize parents with their kids’ teachers and this year’s new learning interface, which students must also become more familiar with as the semester continues.

   Freshman Jaidyn Corbett was a student who attended Back to School Night. “Being an incoming high school freshman, I thought that getting involved with this event was going to be a very helpful experience.  With the new adjustments to school, being educated about upcoming plans and school materials could be very useful,” said Corbett.  

   Corbett explained that due to the lack of attendance, the event didn’t live up to her expectations. “I was disappointed with the outcome of the event because the lack of parents and students ruined the sense of tradition that I had previously experienced [at other Open Houses],” Corbett said.

   Math Teacher Brian Chenoweth was also disappointed with the low attendance from both students and parents. Chenoweth elaborated that, from a teacher’s standpoint, virtual events are more difficult to get parents to attend because students don’t see the events as a priority and thus fail to communicate with their parents. “I had fewer than half the class attend, and parents neglected involvement and were not asking questions as frequently as previous years,” Chenoweth stated. 

   ASB has also turned to social media to boost student participation in school activities. Senior ASB Member Kiane Ogawa explained, “Being a part of ASB this year, our class has made it a priority to lift students’ spirits and make online school more appealing. We understand that students are stressed with this new system, but we are trying to make it better for both students and faculty.”

    Class Cup is an ASB-run online spirit competition for students to get hyped about representing their classes. Senior Eden Tillotson said, “This year is the school’s first Class Cup, and ASB wanted to keep the school spirit alive while maintaining current circumstances. It’s a competition between the classes to see who can bring the most spirit to online classes.”

   Despite ASB’s efforts to increase motivation among students, there were still difficulties that made it harder for the idea of a class cup to work. “The point of this whole event was to create a competition during the week for students to look forward to, but there wasn’t really an organized strategy to know who was winning,” Tillotson explained. “I enjoyed the whole idea of what the week was supposed to bring, because it was nice to see students and teachers partake in some activities online,” Tillotson concluded.