On Mar. 11, MV Ohana held a meeting during lunch in room C210 in honor of St. Patrick’s Day during which members and Ohana buddies decorated shamrock-shaped cookies. This year’s Ohana officer team organized the activity with the newly appointed officers in order to prepare them for the responsibilities ahead, when all the senior officers will have graduated.

According to senior and activities coordinator Shwetha Patil, the officer team strives to make meetings as interactive as possible as it has noticed that the most popular meetings tend to be those with hands-on activities. Patil explains that planning meetings is typically a simple process, as the officer team is in-sync.

“Typically, everyone just shoots ideas [at our officer meetings],” Patil said. “It’s really easy for us to decide what to do. It’s pretty straightforward because we’re all really coordinated and we have a [Facebook] Messenger group that almost everyone is active on all the time.”

Junior Carina Johnson, one of the new officers, explains that her transition to the officer team has been very smooth. She decided to become more heavily involved with Ohana, as she finds the club’s mission to foster bonds between MVHS and the special education program students to be unique.

“[Ohana] feels different to me from most other clubs,” Johnson said. “[In] other clubs, people do it to just look good on college apps and if it’s community service, you do whatever it is and then leave. But if you come here, then every other week, you see the same people and you build connections with [them]. It feels a lot more personal.”

Similarly, club member and sophomore Ria Mittal values Ohana for the club’s atmosphere. She explains that the welcoming and supportive environment Ohana cultivates is rare. 

“I really like seeing people with smiles,” Mittal said. “[The Ohana buddies] are so happy and people are willing to spend their time with them — that makes me super happy. It’s not something you can easily find and I love spending my lunches here.”