On a Friday afternoon in November, sophomore and 2023 Class President Justine Garcia sat at her computer with her three fellow class officers, desperately brainstorming ways to make the morning announcements in Advisory a little more engaging. 

“Maybe we should use sunglasses,” Garcia suggested, before the four sophomores collapsed into a fit of giggles. 

 

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Garcia and her fellow 2023 officers take a moment to appreciate their class on Instagram

Garcia’s attempts to add some variation into the 2023 clip of the video announcements reflects a portion of the enormous challenge being faced by Leadership this year: trying to foster school spirit and connection online. She explains that trying to promote engagement without events like homecoming and rallies has been difficult. 

Junior Ronit Avalani, who is part of Leadership’s Outreach Commission, echoes this sentiment. Without having events like Homecoming and prom which have occurred for several years and have a lot of  “hype” around them he believes that most students are less inclined to participate. 

The Outreach Commission is in charge of communicating with students through social media platforms like Instagram, as well as editing the announcements for Advisory. Because social media is the primary avenue of communication between Leadership and the student body, Avalani explains that he and his commission spend a lot of time creating appealing event promotions and posts. 

“In freshman year, we attended this Leadership conference that told us to focus more on reaching out to students and being relatable, especially when it comes to our social media pages,” Avalani said. “Our commission [has] tried to adapt [to being online] by making our posts more student-centered, so we’ll try to use as many pictures or as many videos that involve people as much as possible. My team and I have tried to increase engagement by creating community in our posts and trying to bring together MVHS a little bit, but also we try to plan smaller events that we know people are interested in.”

 

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Avalani and his commission focus their posts around photos of students to make their social media accounts more community centered

Senior and ASB President Nicholas Hsieh stresses the thought that goes into the events that the Outreach Commission promotes on Instagram. He explains that the Leadership class sets aside 20 to 30 minutes every couple of weeks to reflect on past events and brainstorm ideas for increasing engagement. For example, after noticing the popularity of the Among Us game last semester, Hsieh and his fellow Leadership members decided to implement school and class wide Among Us events.

Avalani and Garcia also recognize the importance of these virtual events to invoke a sense of community. Avalani mentions the success of the MVHS Lip Dub last year, which received over 3,000 views, and hopes to host a similar event this year. Garcia fondly recollects Chipotle fundraisers and class Kahoots where the winners received boba. She explains that these events helped her feel a sense of connection with her classmates and invoked school spirit, which she deeply values both on and off campus.  

“School spirit helps with unity because even when we’re far apart, we’re all still Matadors and we all wear purple and gold,” Garcia said. “It’s just really important to stay spirited, even through these tough times. I know it’s hard to be positive, but it’s way better when you’re just trying to have fun with the online events we plan.”