An Inside Look At the Senior Class Committee

When you think of class committee, the first thing that comes to mind is homecoming week. The pep rally, dress up days, tug-of war and many other activities make those weeks the most loved during the school year. During that time, class committee members get together, create a theme, and work on banners and wagons to present during the pep rally. Many students who work on class committee enjoy it so much they participate all of their high school career. When the students get to senior year, students who have been in class committee since freshman year work alongside students who have just developed school spirit. New faces combined with a new structure makes senior class committee unlike any of the other years.

Senior class committee has definitely been an adjustment for me after being on past class committees. Usually we are just concerned about winning the spirit stick, but this year brought changes. The first difference was the executive council that was selected at the beginning of the year. This is a group of elected students who facilitate discussion and ideas and ultimately have the say in what the class does. They also have responsibilities elsewhere including the planning of Baccalaureate and class reunions we will have later in our lives.  With these new responsibilities, some don’t realize what they must do. In an interview, I asked executive council member Rachel Sheffer if she knew of or had plans for Baccalaureate and she responded, “not personally. In fact, I was actually unaware that was part of the responsibility of the counsel.” While many others on the council may not know of this responsibility, there is still plenty of time to meet and discuss plans. Due to this shift in both responsibility and leadership, it is understandable that some students struggled in this new environment.

Despite our epic win during the football homecoming, I found in my interviews that there was some discourse between members. When I asked students how they felt about the theme, Monsters Inc., for last homecoming some were not happy with how the selection played out. Peyton Murray wrote to me saying that “we didn’t all have the chance to insert our opinion. It could have been better.” As I asked around more, I found that students were happy with how the theme turned out, they did win, but they were disappointed that many voices weren’t heard. I also asked participants about their opinions on the elected council and found that several were struggling with the new change. Many of the members I interviewed found the council “stubborn” and “difficult to work with”. Dakota Martin stated that the main difference from this year and years before was that “It’s not done as a collective.”

When I asked members of the executive council about sharing ideas and creativity, they had a different story to tell.  Mallory Williams said that as a group “We have meetings to discuss what the council has talked about and ultimately vote on things”. The lack of communication between the club members has caused issues, but there is hope in the basketball homecoming in February.

While there may be some problems to sort out, there is no lack of enthusiasm throughout the class. The senior class enjoys every event that happens during homecoming, from dress up days to the pep rally and is putting their full force behind their last homecoming. Elena Cecil says her favorite part of homecoming is “everything. I love homecoming week in general.” The students seem to have no fear and are ready to take on the task of their final homecoming. Zoe Blair stated “I feel like we are going to work harder than ever to win because we want to leave with a four-year streak.” Jessica Hornback stated that there are plans in the making for basketball homecoming. In a recent meeting, I saw the students cooperating better than ever before and including all ideas. Basketball homecoming is sure to bring out the best in our senior class.