School spirit online
Leadership uses novel approaches to engage students during distance learning
Photo by Avalani | Used with permission
Junior Ronit Avalani poses while making promotional content for the MV Official Instagram account
January 21, 2021
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.” School spirit is important for so many reasons — it’s just like a community builder. Being able to have something in common and being able to say ‘Monta Vista is the best school in the world’ brings people together. — Nicholas Hsieh
For Hsieh, school spirit and building a community helps him focus on events and a life that resides outside the realm of academics.
“School spirit is important for so many reasons — it’s just like a community builder,” Hsieh said. “Being able to have something in common and being able to say ‘Monta Vista is the best school in the world’ brings people together. It forms connections that are really important and it [helps] to meet other people, gain perspectives on life and collaborate. Monta Vista is pretty highly academic and a lot of people are stressed, so to be able to focus on something [else], have a distraction for a second and de-stress with other people is really important.”
In spite of the numerous challenges, Avalani, Garcia and Hsieh all reflect on the past semester with a positive attitude. For Avalani, adapting to a distance learning environment has given him and the rest of Leadership the opportunity to come up with new ideas for engagement, which is one aspect unique to online learning that he has come to appreciate.
“Being online has forced the entirety of Leadership to be a lot more creative and think outside the box which is something we’re not used to doing,” Avalani said. “I do think that it’s definitely been harder for us to think outside the box because everything we think of gets a little bit repetitive, but it’s forced us to be in the mindset of constantly thinking about ways we can make online school better, or make things different.”
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Hsieh and his executive council partake in a spicy noodle challenge to show appreciation for donations towards supporting firefighters
Avalani, Garcia and Hsieh explain that one of the best parts of being in Leadership has been the tremendous support from their fellow students. Hsieh personally feels lucky to have been able to face the challenges brought forth by the past year with the people around him, who he says have been a constant source of inspiration and positivity in his life.
“Leadership in general — I love the people,” Hsieh said. “Everyone is so optimistic and funny and nice to each other. Specifically this year, I think with those people, being able to conquer this huge challenge of virtual learning, to be able to face this challenge with them is really awesome.”
The most important message that Avalani, Garcia and Hsieh hope that their classmates will internalize is that Leadership wants their input and cares about them. In the coming semester, all three hope to reach out to students on a more personal level through direct messaging across various platforms and feedback forms to really show the student body that Leadership is trying to make school as positive an experience as possible. We would love to make this year amazing for you, even though it’s online, and we do want you to know that even if you’re alone, there are people out here who care for you and there are people out here who want you to be heard. — Ronit Avalani
“One thing I would like to say to the entire class is that while it feels easy to feel alone right now, I would like [students] to know that we as Leadership are watching out for you and hope that this year does get better,” Avalani said. “We would love to make this year amazing for you, even though it’s online, and we do want you to know that even if you’re alone, there are people out here who care for you and there are people out here who want you to be heard.”
