Position Assessment: My position so far has been in cooperative management of the @rhsco23 instagram account which is our official class account. As directed by Makenzie, I have made seven designs for posts to publicize class t-shirts. Two of these designs also got posted on the @asbofriponhighschool instagram account as well as a design I created to publicize for our Support Our Troops Junior Class Spirit Day during Club Rush Week. With the rest of the Junior Class, I was also involved in the making of individual papers filled with every Junior’s name and those were put up to encourage the Juniors to attend the Back to School Dance. Looking forward, I need to get the login information figured out for that class instagram account. I also intend to make it a more active account with at least one post weekly. I want to use the idea the current Seniors had last year and do a spotlight of a student each week to engage our following.
Standing Committee: I have not yet participated in a standing committee at this time.
Special Committee: One special committee that is in progress is a committee to decorate for the dance. So far, this group has painted various posters that were displayed around the school in order to encourage the student body to buy their tickets of attendance. The committee planned to also decorate during the dance itself until the dance was canceled due to borderline hazardous air quality. The dance is tentatively rescheduled for September 18th and the dance committee still fully intends to provide its assistance in decorating during the dance.
Mentorship Evaluation/ Completion at time of Meeting: The person I serve as a mentor for this year is Sophia. I met her at Core Camp in July when we were matched together and were walking down to the Coffee House. From then on, we have gotten to know each other a bit better. We helped each other to take professional headshots for our portfolio website. I also assisted Sophia setting up her website from scratch, answering questions the best I could. Club Rush temporarily paused interaction with my mentor buddy because we were sitting with and involved with our class officer teams. We now sit with our mentor buddies again. Recently I answered Sophia’s questions about how to complete an ASB Formal Report.
Concerns: One potential con during Club Rush that I didn’t think of when we were discussing the pros and cons is pertaining to our class t-shirt sales. I know that having the class tables all in one central location near the library was good for our sales and was also easy for the students to find, but I was wondering whether it drew the attention away from our clubs on campus. We had club tables all the way on the other side of the school and it seemed like a lot of people pooled near the front tables for class t-shirts. I am not actually sure if it drew attention away or not because it seems like the clubs all did very well, but it was just a concern of mine.
Positive comment: All of the members of the program worked amazingly well during Club Rush when we were putting up the names of students on the windows as encouragement for them to go to the dance. I saw all four classes with people putting up the names and then I commend the classes that finished early and stepped in to help others who maybe had more names or were just struggling with it more. I also want to dedicate a shout out to Naomi and Avery who are both great leaders right now. Naomi and Avery have been working very hard on all events so far, especially the Back to School Dance coming up. They have both also always been there to delegate tasks and answer the questions we have.
Change: The change I am proposing is pertaining to my concern. If a centralized location of t-shirt sales is found to take the crowds away from club tables, I would not want to give up the centralized location still because this setup was great for our sales. However, I would propose that we spread out a bit more, even maybe each taking up a corner of the space between the student store and electrical box, just so students have to walk around more to get to our tables and in doing so get to see more clubs.
My Impact: I have been most involved with my clubs which have become very active and are an example of clubs trying to revive the spirit of clubs on campus again after COVID. The Speech and Debate Club just got a new advisor, Mr. Sikma, who displays lots of potential for us to expand that club into a network of regional competition. Then the Environmental Advocacy Club has made a layout of their events for the year, and recently sent a pending email asking what the school administration’s thoughts would be on installing solar panels at the school.
September/October ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman
Position: Junior Class Publicity Officer
Date: October 14, 2021
Position Assessment: I did some work with my special committee to make sure the Back to School Dance was successful (more details in that section). I also worked constantly with the Junior Class to execute the Homecoming events. In the beginning, an assignment given specifically to me was to make four Instagram posts for the @rhsco23 Instagram. One was made to publicize the Lip/Dance Sync Battle and hype up Junior spirit. The second was to invite Juniors to join us walking in the parade. The third post was just another option for a post publicizing the Lip/Dance Sync. The fourth post was explaining the Junior Class dress up day. Then I also participated in every one of the Homecoming events as well. I helped decorate the class poster at the front of the school in the early morning. I attended multiple practices before the lip/dance sync when I played the role of the chef from Ratatouille. During Powderpuff, I volunteered to be a fill in under Naomi’s direction for anyone. After that football game was when I went to Gabby Delgado’s house to decorate the class float for the parade. I was with Makenzie, Gracie, April, Gabby Illiardi, Gabby Delgado, Jaydin, and Abby Campos. That was a two-day project for us and I was also walking with the float the day of the parade dressed up as the chef from Ratatouille again. The morning of the parade, I helped put up and take down the large Homecoming poster made by the seniors. After the parade, I headed to the football field with everyone to both decorate and clean up the Homecoming football game. The Saturday after the end of Homecoming, I helped take apart the float and locally recycle our used decorations. Now, the beginning planning of Prom and Homecoming has taken place during one meeting with Mr. Mayfield and all Junior class officers. I also recently followed through with my idea near the beginning of the year of reviving the seniors’ past idea of student spotlights. I have seven posts and a google form made which should last us for about 3.5 weeks on the class Instagram. Our purpose is to unite the Junior class and also maintain a more active connection between Leadership and the students. In the future, we will continue planning for Prom and Dude Be Nice. As COVID guidelines get clearer in the nearer future, we will be able to know what we can/cannot do regarding the venue. As we find out who the dude will be, we can better plan and personalize the event. I will be creating an RHS Prom 2022 Instagram account and at the same time start posting the student spotlights on the existing class account.
Standing Committee: I briefly assisted the Balloon Arch Committee in creating balloon bouquets for the front of the school’s decorations the morning of the Homecoming parade. Other than this, I have not yet participated in a standing committee at this time.
Special Committee: I have participated in multiple committees throughout September and October. I continued my participation in the poster decorating committee because although I didn’t make the posters for the Back to School Dance decorations, I did help clean up the paint that was left over in front of the storage room after the project. I also participated in the dance decorating committee while helping with streamers on the gate the night of the dance. During Powderpuff, I assisted the Coronation risers and box committees as a stand in. For the risers, I was in charge of setting them up in a stable way during the halftime of the Powderpuff game. Then for the boxes, I was dressed professionally and received the box of Riley Rangel with instructions to give it to her during the halftime before Homecoming King and Queen would be revealed. Riley was so sweet when I gave her the box, and it was amazing to see all of those candidates eagerly anticipating the results.
Mentorship Evaluation/ Completion at time of Meeting: Over the period of time that we were busy with events, I answered multiple questions from Sofia regarding decorating for the dance and the Coronation event. I also helped her fill out an announcement form the week before Homecoming. During Powderpuff, I spent some time with her at the football game. Powderpuff was actually the first football game I had ever been to at the high school and Sofia had already been to one before so she told me some memories from the games she has been to. About a week ago, I scheduled a lunch with her with the intention of recapping on how Homecoming went for her and the Freshman class. We went to Pizza Plus and on the walk over, she shared that the Freshman didn’t have too many problems. Their only issues were that their trailer for the float was too large, they were a bit unclear on what to do for their window poster, and it was a bit of a short notice on planning everything this year. However, they did great and I especially loved their window poster that had such a wholesome design to it. This lunch also posed a great opportunity to discuss plans for the Halloween Dance. My mentor is doing so well with her team and I am grateful to be able to be there to support and help in every way.
Concerns: One concern of mine is that I don’t think we are planning far enough ahead for our events right now. Everything seems a bit rushed, from Homecoming to our dances. Morty brought up the point that many of us are habitual procrastinators but even so, at least planning ahead would create a subtle foundation that would to some degree lessen the stress once it actually comes to planning the event.
Positive Comment: I would like to give a huge thank you to the entire Leadership program because you all did so great during Homecoming putting in 110% effort. I can definitely see this translating into future events as well since I loved the amazing thoughtfulness and effort put into the praises as well. I cannot wait to see how this year goes. A big shout out to Kade and Ava Brochinni who put on a phenomenal Powder Puff season, to Ava Keast and Jaydin who were the stars of every energetic rally, and to Derek and Gideon who were great dedicated technology commissioners as always.
Change: One change I would like to see is a transition towards involving the student body more into the activities that Leadership does. When we involve other students, we are going to have a lot more buy in. I love to have seen this transition already happening in the way that we are involving other students in the @asbofriponhighschool Instagram reels and taking the school spirit picture at break. I think we also did a much better job this year at involving all students in the Lip/Dance Sync of Homecoming. I am currently working towards this change by working towards doing the student spotlights that will highlight a diverse group of students within the Junior class. The transition towards involving more non-Leadership students is a change I definitely want to see.
My Impact: These past two months, I have been making a conscious effort to join into a lot of community service projects. It is kind of frustrating that I can’t join all of them as I wish I had the time but I don’t. However, I have been able to do a few. One is organizing a school-wide thrift swap with my environmental advocacy club. This will be a fight against fast fashion and an attempt to raise money for charitable causes. The other is joining the Red Cross as a volunteer for multiple projects. One recent project we did was writing military cards and I put my 100% effort into that. I even painted the front of the postcards and my wood texture was on point! I also loved the mix of the blue with white that created the ice and the swift motion that gave the trees such a natural look. Overall I am almost positive that the military service people will appreciate their cards. I gave them a small call to action by saying I hope they get a cup of hot cocoa and have a snowball match with a friend to make some great memories. My hope is that this gives them some sort of happiness in such a troubling time.
November/December ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman
Position: Junior Class Publicity Officer
Date: 9 December 2021
Position Assessment: November started with extensive work coordinating the Dude Be Nice Event. We met with the rest of the Leadership class to brainstorm what would happen for each of the days of Dude Be Nice Week. Leadership itself would purchase all supplies needed for all clubs and other organizations who chose to participate. The Junior officer team requested from Rangel that music be played between passing periods that Tuesday. Then Leadership and the Junior Class Officers formed the basket to give to Sam, out dudette, and Juniors were present during the reveal. Then I volunteered to do two conference presentations for the National Student Council LEAD Conference. An individual presentation done by me was on the topic, “The Meaning of Passion.” I also did a group presentation with David, Abby, and Devin titled, “The Power of Time Management.” This was also put into an article in the Discover Ripon magazine and will be presented at the city board meeting in December. I also worked in my CASL group that had the topic of student mental health. Gabby Melgarejo, Emma, and Brianna were in my group and we brainstormed with the class to come up with ideas of how student mental health is supported. Then the Junior Class Instagram finally ran their Junior Spotlights for the month of November. The three superlative titles were, “Most Likely to Brighten Your Day,” “Best Person to Share an Abandoned Island With,” and “Most Opinionated.” Overall, it was a seven post series with three google forms and ended when Thanksgiving started. Most recently, I have created a google form asking the students for song recommendations with artist names for a formal DJ playlist. In the future, we will be creating an RHS Prom 2021-2022 account to do what is very similar to what sophomores did for Winter Formal. It will post ticket/venue information, prom dresses, and promposals. In addition, the Juniors are working on their Holiday tree for Warm and Fuzzy Week and will be doing a shopping cart, and pillar for Winterfest in January.
Standing Committee:
I do not believe that I have partaken in any special committees at the moment because both the Halloween dance and Winter Formal dance didn’t need the assistance from other Leadership members.
Special Committee:
Multiple special committees were created to help make Warm and Fuzzy Week successful. The first one that I was a part of was creating snowflakes for distribution during the spirit week. The second was my group with Spencer, April, Payton, and Nathan Gaines to wrap the doors of several staff members around campus. We had some of the neatest doors at the school but I can say that everyone’s doors were appreciated as I have witnessed the gratitude from many of the teachers. I was also signed up to help sophomores do chalk art around campus but due to unforeseen weather, this did not actually happen. I was also involved in the Coin Wars event organized by Leadership Vice Presidents in both the coin counting committee and coin collecting committee. I helped total amounts of coins in the jars during class and during lunch, I was with Emma setting up a table to collect more coins.
Mentorship:
There have been a few times I have been at the same table as my mentor buddy over the past couple of months. I helped her set up her professional page of the website and there have also been times we have just talked. Most recently, I went to lunch again with my mentor person. We spoke about the professional website, warm and fuzzy week, homecoming, ASB reports, Winterfest, and other fun things which was a great opportunity to reconnect again. I have branched out from just helping my mentor because my mentor buddy is super awesome and usually has things figured out. Therefore, I’ve been reaching out to the Freshman and also occasionally the sophomores just to offer my help in those areas. I recently helped relay information for their holiday tree for warm and fuzzy week. I’ve also just offered my help for whenever they may be in need of it and hopefully they utilize the opportunity if they ever find themselves stuck.
Concerns:
I think that the most we can plan ahead for an event, the better. I know we brought this up last night. The counter argument was that even if we open the opportunity to work ahead, we are going to procrastinate anyways. However, I do appreciate having the game plan actually a month ahead just so I can just see what we have to tackle and it gets spaced out better.
Positive comment:
The class groups are working together so well and it makes me very happy to see that. Each one is such a cohesive team and they always put in their effort with spirited fun. When we get a great group of people together, the work we do every day feels meaningful and worth our while. I get the feeling that I’d love to do Leadership events every day because I look forward to the dependability and welcoming nature of those who embody the program. Most inspiring recently was how everyone came together to support our sophomores. The sophomore class did absolutely phenomenal on their Warm and Fuzzy Week and Winter Formal considering the situation they were put under. However, we understood that our help could be beneficial to them and stepped in to assist every way we can. Even during door decorating, we still persevered and got the project done. It was very heartwarming to see how everyone came together as one big Leadership family to create something truly magical. With our events lately, the energy or what some would describe as a “vibe,” is more important than the actual event. I have heard from students on campus that they can sense our motivating, confident, spirited, and welcoming atmosphere and they participate because they enjoy being surrounded by that. We are fulfilling the mental needs along with their physical needs by providing such a positive atmosphere of school culture.
Change:
I wonder if there could be a way for every person in Leadership to have an avenue to connect with each other. I know that the classes have group chats, there is a guys and girls group chat, and we could have access to everyone’s phone numbers, but if there was something established that already connected every one of us in communication, it could be beneficial. It could be a way to send out reminders to everyone and also for people to ask whatever questions they have. It is just an idea.
My Impact:
This week, I wasn’t afraid to jump out of my comfort zone a bit and actually host a school-wide club event. It was exciting that I was able to open my platform on that kind of scale. My club organized a school thrift swap where for a week, we asked for clothes donations and then the week following, we sold the clothes for $1 each. A portion of the funds would go towards charitable causes while the rest would be used to create the first budget for our club. I had the support of so many amazing people around me. The students were also very receptive and interested which was awesome. We got about 5 bins full of clothes donated. Then we sold over 100 articles of clothing. The rest will be donated to the Salvation to support the health and mental wellbeing of less fortunate people. It has been requested and is very likely that this event will occur again at the change of season in the spring since people said they really enjoyed it and it was also great for our club. We ran our first in person event, created our first budget, did great publicity in the announcements, are now well known in the community, and created our first social media account. It was monumental and will make a difference in the lives of many people.
Money raised is planned to go towards our participation in the Holiday Tree Competition. Our idea is that we will have mini potted Christmas trees arranged to look like a larger tree. Then the club members were challenged to create ornaments made of either entirely recycled or natural materials. This reflects our mission of being environmentally conscious. After the event, the potted trees will be given out to club members to be replanted and it is a way to give back to the community with some wonderful greenery. I am very excited!
January ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman
Position: Junior Class Publicity Officer Date: 10 February 2022
Position Assessment:
The Junior Class was busy at the end of December and into the first part of January. They created a red tree with a theme of candyland and peppermints for the Warm and Fuzzy Holiday Tree Competition. I brought candy canes to lighten everybody’s spirits for the event. After coming back from winter break, the Juniors continued their work on Winterfest with their theme of Night vs Day. They created a shopping cart with painted sides and a top that spun vertically to change scenes. The poster was a combination of hot air balloons in the sky and a dark scary bedroom with a monster under the bed, separated by clouds that lit up. The pillar had hanging stars on one side and clouds with pinwheels on the other. The window was a night scene with an astronomy wheel combined with a day sky of kites and planes. Hanging clouds were suspended from the ceiling. The Juniors won overall 2nd place in the event. The @rhsco23 Instagram account made a sequence of posts to publicize both Warm and Fuzzy Week and Winterfest. The peppermint tree was posted. Later on, I made a total of seven posts to publicize Winterfest Star Queen and Sun King as well as overall voting for most spirited. Three of these got posted, including two that were a short introduction of each nominated candidate. Pictures of our pillar and poster were also put on. Outside of these events, the Juniors started having meetings in preparation for the prom. We did two in-person meetings at the venue and have been in communication with the DJ, decorator, photo booth person, property owner, Mr. Mayfield, and caterer. Everything is set up for that and a meeting since then has been held with Mr. Mayfield after school to finalize ticket price,crowns/sashes, and promposals. In addition, @rhsprom_2022 and @rhsprom2022_dresses Instagrams were started to publicize for prom. The theme was announced as enchanted forest and the dresses account received good feedback. It is a way for people to make sure that they don’t show up to prom in the same outfits. On another note, Juniors have finally distributed their class shirts. As a collective program, all students wrote their speeches and also did an article for a state leadership magazine.
Standing committee:
I have not yet participated in a standing committee at this time.
Special committee:
I have not yet participated in a special committee at this time.
Mentorship:
At this moment, I sit in the classroom located very near my mentor buddy. During the Warm and Fuzzy Week, I extended my help to Sofia and the entire Freshman class in order to assist with their holiday tree. Sofia did great with her Leadership speech assignment which she wrote about the banana slug. She was very descriptive and the telling of that story captivated attention from the whole room. Recently we also went out to lunch together again. This time it was to Coffee House which was cool because that is the place we first met during Core Camp. This time, we both knew what to order so we did that. We talked about how chaotic the board meeting was the other day with a lady threatening to staple people’s faces and another woman comparing mask mandates to segregation and slavery. In addition, we talked about our ASB Reports and concluded that both of us had a lot to write for our position assessments. The coming of election weeks was also a topic of conversation because Sofia is running for Sophomore VP against three other candidates. I told her that I am sure she will do amazing though.
Concerns:
I am mildly concerned that approaching the end of the year along with AP exams or SAT, people may start to get burnt out. This comment would apply to both the people inside and outside of this program. I really don’t have any serious concerns though right now. My one concern could very likely be a result of me overthinking things.
Positive comment:
Everybody has been doing great with their speeches in class. Although I never look forward to giving my own speech, I know that it will be worth it in order to hear the fun, informative, entertaining speeches of other people. Ava, Avery, Abby, Gracie, and Kade all had very comical speeches and I enjoyed listening to what they had to say.
Change:
One positive change I would like to see is a lot of connection between Leadership and the rest of the student body. During elections, we have the opportunity to either bore the students or excite them. If campaigns and speeches are very engaging, the students welcome the ability to take a look into how the program works. If speeches turn out bland and no effort is put into the campaign, students tune us out. I am eager to see what happens this year with elections as I think we have a lot of creative people. Speeches are kind of expected to be boring but posters around the school are always interesting with their fun ideas.
My Impact:
In January, I made the decision to donate blood with the American Red Cross. The nation was in a state of crisis with a severe blood shortage. I was inspired by the Red Cross Club at the high school which had used many resources to inform me of the Red Cross’ mission. I also had a parent who would always take up the opportunity to donate when she could. She no longer can at the moment. Therefore, my donation was in part inspired and also a dedication to that parent. In addition, I also did a community service project in conjunction with JROTC, Leadership, and Kids Against Hunger to package 17,000 meals for underprivileged children of the Central Valley. It was a great experience and I can remember times in my life when my family did not have much money. We didn’t always have a lot of food around so to be able to give the simple gift of a meal to children in need is very important to me.
February/March ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman
Position: Junior Class Publicity Officer
Date: 14 April 2022
Position Assessment:
The Junior Class Officer team is doing consistent work towards the Prom event quickly approaching as of March 30th. Two Instagram accounts, @rhsprom_2022 and @rhsprom2022_dresses, have been utilized to publicize information regarding the specific event for Juniors and Seniors. The first account has given general information as well as conducted the posting of promposals. Couples were able to send their promposals to the account and were featured. One lucky couple was rewarded with a gift of two free prom tickets. The winners, picked this most recent week of ticket sales, were Gracie Winchell and Kenji Bangi. The other Instagram account was used to post dresses sent in by female attendees of Prom. The purpose was to make sure that attendees had an avenue for avoiding showing up in the same dress as someone else. The account has received a mass of positive feedback and has been increasingly active. I created a total of four posts but they were not needed and I have not received any further directive from Makenzie regarding this. A couple of meetings were conducted in Mayfield’s presence to extend the Guest Pass due date since there were complications with Admin’s approval of the passes. The DJ was prepaid years ago and his contract is validly approved by the District. Tents are tentatively ordered in preparation for unprecedented rain at the event. Chaperones are confirmed, announcements and posters are put out, and the logistics of ticket sales are refined. The venue hosts are handling the property, decorating, photo booth, catering, and dessert within the overall price we are paying them at the end.
The other job-specific activity I did was Encore with Norm. During this, the class was able to create connections within and also learn more about ourselves. I believe this was better than the Core Camp we had earlier in the year because it more involved fostering a positive atmosphere. The lessons were approached in a better and more engaging way, leading to an overall great day. My favorite part was creating an award for myself because I have a tendency to be very self-critical. It forced me to acknowledge a positive aspect of my being. Then when we formed a circle and did timed praises, it was scattered but a meaningful moment because each person had the opportunity to feel surrounded by love. It encompasses what it means to be surrounded by an atmosphere because wherever one looked, it was evident that somebody was emitting positive energy at them.
Standing Committee:
I have not partaken in any standing committee activities at this time.
Special Committee:
There have been several special events in occurrence over the past couple of months. I helped clean up trash left behind by students during dodgeball on the day I was signed up for at lunch. This helped the overall team dodgeball event run smoothly with no complications. I also extended my miscellaneous assistance to Morty during the execution of 8th Grade Day. Since I am not directly a part of Link Crew, I was not assigned to a group with my peers and thus was available for whatever else needed to be done. This was a very brief role that did not entail much but I made a conscious effort to be helpful. As a fundraiser for Leadership, students were tasked with volunteering at the Almond Blossom Festival parking lot. I was grouped with Brianna and Abby. Unlike previous groups that had directed traffic in the afternoon, we were asked to clean the entire expanse of the dirt parking lot while also resetting all lot barriers. Some aspects of this were horrible as the trash items picked up were far from sanitary in any way. However, I enjoyed riding along as Brianna drove the golf cart at high speeds. It was an embracing of the weird moments which led to lasting memories in the program. More recently, I helped set art and lay black paper onto triangle pillars. My group consisting of Brianna, April, and Kylee won the pillar competition for neatness and was rewarded a custom Starbucks order. Then I arrived after school to help Mr. Bowers transport art and was utilized for my height while placing it onto pillars. I made an appearance that evening to watch the interview between Mr. Bowers and Mr. Felver.
For the future, there are several special committees which are still in the preparation stage for events. I am contributing to The Challenge via the publicity committee and dance committee. Publicity hopes to have a combination of paper flyers, social media posts, posters of unique shape, and car flyers to promote the event. There is an entire google doc which illustrates specific topics of publicity that need to be covered due at specific dates. This organization has the group set up to complete this in a timely manner. In the Dance Committee, the aspects of decoration were brainstormed and the theme is Hawaiian. I was paired with David to get in contact with chaperones and we have gotten confirmation from more than enough people to cover the end-of-year dance. For Tribe Awards, I am a part of the committee that will construct the setting and help distribute awards. This event will aim to recognize various students on campus for their outstanding character and connection with our educator staff.
Mentorship:
The biggest involvement I had with my mentor over the past couple of months was through the Mentor A-Z Project. We each made each other a pack of flashcards, with each representing a letter and a related trait of description. I put a large amount of time into creating the cards, brainstorming ideas, and coloring the cards to fit an aesthetic. The cards that I received from her were perfect. The coloring depicted various different natural scenes which represent my care for nature. I can tell that she put a lot of thought into them and the explanations of each trait were also very personal. I could tell that she really cared and was genuine. I keep the cards on my desk so whenever I have spare time, I can reflect upon the positive light in which she views me.
We also helped each other put finishing touches upon the website professional pages. Mock Interviews are soon approaching at the end of April so all must be perfected in order to give the best image of ourselves to professionals who give their time. Sofia needed help on her interview questions and I had two past years of professional interviews for her to use as a reference. The only other edits were for minor grammar.
Usually, we try to go off campus for lunch at least one per month together. However, it did not happen this time and I wonder if both of us just got very busy with other things. I will definitely reconnect with her and we will go to lunch at least one more time before the school year ends. I am happy to hear that she will be in the program again next year because she has always expressed such an exemplary level of dedication in her position. I cannot wait to see how she expands upon that and travels her high school journey.
Concerns:
One concern of mine is that the class as a whole is not working at a quick enough pace to be readily prepared for The Challenge. The planning was great and we have a very solid foundation. However, we need to take time working up from that foundation so the events actually happen. I may not be seeing the full picture of what is conducted behind the scenes. It just seems like certain people do the majority of work though in these committees while others tag along to passively assist. I foresee that the work ethic will get better as the events are sooner to approach. I am not necessarily worried because we always pull through and do amazing. I just want to see more happen because I know what our capabilities are.
Positive Comment:
I want to send a huge shout out to Morty, Naomi, and Makenzie for their amazing work towards having us be able to accept two great awards recently. Morty has done a lot of work this entire year applying for the NatStuCo Gold Leadership Program Award. We earned this one which represents us as nationally recognized at the highest level of program excellence. I have done work presenting for NatStuCo earlier this year and got the opportunity to witness its massive scale. Therefore, I take pride in having the privilege to serve on behalf of such an esteemed group.
Furthermore, Naomi and Makenzie both attended the CASL Conference and were able to accept the Outstanding Leadership Program Award. This award is equally special while at the state level of leadership. Naomi commented that the majority of material taught at the conference was things we already do as a team. She said it was nice to see other schools adopting those practices because we have been able to see the immense positive impact it has left upon our campus.
The entire class was recognized at City Hall and deserved to be honored in this way because each of us has such a unique contribution to the diversity of this program. In addition, our leaders are selfless in their care for the student body and this reflects in the hard work they put in every day. Without those who form the program as a whole, we would not be able to execute what we do.
Change:
I want to reform my own work ethic. I graded myself down on my evaluation because there is a lack of action on my part when it comes to involvement. This is specific towards my tendency to rely on others for instructions rather than becoming self sufficient. I need to utilize my strengths in the way of getting things done before people have to ask. It will hopefully make people’s lives a bit easier. I don’t want to feel like I’m letting down the rest of this program because these people and their mission mean a lot to me. I made a commitment to serve the student body at my best so I shall continue to honor that.
My Impact:
Right now, the Environmental Advocacy Club is back doing another amazing service project. I was accepted for a water fellowship long ago which allowed the club to partake in creating a water event at Ripon High. The club has applied for a $500 grant from H2O for Life to get starting money for this endeavor. The club is now moving forward with a project plan which has three stages. We have already completed the School-Wide Seasonal Clothes Thrift Swap at the end of March. It was an event to combat fast fashion and keep clothes out of the global circulation of waste. Each clothing item was sold for $1 each, so 49 pieces of clothing got a new home. Our next step is accomplishing water testing, something the club is very excited about. We can work with local scientific experts while gaining knowledge of how watershed systems work. Youtube and Instagram can become established platforms to publish our process and gather an engaged audience. We will rely on the existing equipment, pre-used local equipment, and donations to perform this. We have the Stanislaus River and San Joaquin Delta near us with water issues, including carcinogenic contamination and severe algal blooms. When we publish our data, it can aid in the united solution. It will be enacted by latest the second week of May and continue into early June. The third part of this project is a walk for a cause with timing conflicts since school ends in June. We hope to at least have it organized through brainstorming in April and May. We hope to keep people hydrated with that symbolism to other parts of the world that don't have water. It will be a fun, enjoyable community event where people will begin thinking about the global partner schools that have trouble getting water. It shall be our largest generator of charitable profit. However, I have never done anything like this before. It is a town of 14,000 people, so if we could even get 120 people to attend, we would meet our goal of $600. If we don't make the goal, any leftover funds not spent on stages 1 & 2 can recycle into this profit fund. If the walk does not occur over the summer, plans will continue once the school year resumes. I hope to create a basis with my club so that they can work alongside H2O for Life for many events to come.
The Final Months ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman
Position: Junior Class Publicity Officer
Date: 05/19/2022
Position Assessment:
The largest event put on by the Junior Class Officer Team was Prom and it happened at the end of April. Prior to Spring Break, tickets had been sold in the Student Store for $65 each with a $5 increase in price on Friday. This process was streamlined as we each had a participatory role in the process. Mackenzie had a google form code that people scanned to appear in the google sheet system and highlight their clearance information. Mr. Mayfield and Ms. Gillihan was in charge of academic clearance of individuals at the front of the line. Mr. Kissy was checking off-campus guest passes. Then at the next stage of the line, April and Gracie were using the ipads and cash box to sell the tickets. At the end, I was distributing papers with correct directions to the Rustic Ranch venue. There were no physical tickets to be handed out since students would bring their student IDs and appear on a master list. I attended the Prom and joined Makenzie, Gracie, Ewen, Emily, April, and Spencer for a great night at the Prom. The event was well decorated and highly attended by the students. The only issue was sound because the DJ did not account for his equipment’s power consumption, resulting in generator failure that left the dance without music for a short period of time. Makenzie was awesome in her response as she tried to assist in any way possible. Honorary titles were voted for via google form prior to Prom and presented at the middle of the event. Food was served by the venue staff and consisted of steak, chicken, green beans, scalloped potatoes, and salad. The other thing the Junior Class did was attempt to distribute remaining class shirts to those who paid for one at the beginning of the year. We ran into difficulty as the 4th period class was incorrectly marked on several shirts. We believe that this is due to people dropping classes and rearranging their schedule throughout the year. We will attempt again by the end of this year as we work to correct this information. Leadership will be selling the remaining class shirt supply. Furthermore, the program will be hosting two more events for the end of the year. One is a stud buddy night done by Link Crew to help students during finals week. The other is an End of the Year Rally to show a video, present awards, and celebrate the end of the year with the rally commissioners.
Standing Committee:
I assisted the Balloon Arch Committee in conjunction with the Tribe Awards Committee to help create balloon pillars. My presence was utilized to fill someone else’s absence that was caused by a sporting event.
Special Committee:
Morty was in charge of supply for the Modesto CADA conference for several schools. Therefore, she asked the class to assist her in this project. My initial role was filling folders and cutting workshop tickets. After the conference occurred, I took inventory of remaining supplies which included notebooks, pens, tote bags, and folders. Then the class signed up for the Love Ripon community service event. I volunteered for the park beautification where we leveled bark on three playgrounds. That day, I was able to have the family car for the day which was convenient for transportation. However, I wasn’t able to provide that same assistance to my peers since I cannot yet carry passengers legally. I also helped with the ASB Banquet by setting up and clearing the MUB after. Then there was the Challenge which was a week-long sequence of activities celebrating students and teachers at the end of the year. I was part of the poster publicity committee and partnered with David to create three poster designs. Then I was also part of the End of the Year Dance. With this team, I decorated the stage and photobooth for the dance and cleaned up afterwards. I also worked a shift with James serving snow cones to the students. After this event, the Leadership class met together for team bonding at Denny’s. In assisting the challenge as a whole, I formed a team for the Jeopardy lunch event. Although we didn’t win, the lunch was fun and people definitely got competitive.
Mentorship:
I spent time with my mentor at the End of the Year Dance helping her work the shift serving popcorn. She had difficulty opening the popcorn bags so I did that as she filled them. That was a great way to talk about how the high school experience is going so fast. I can’t believe that she is about to be a sophomore already and I’m going to be a senior! I told her at Core Camp that the time is so short and emphasizes the importance of getting involved. I am glad that she decided to apply herself so extensively and start making the most of her experience. I cannot wait to see what she does over the next three years of high school. Even though I can’t stay here to see it, I will definitely come back and visit from wherever I end up being!
Concerns:
One concern I have is that communication was flawed during the Challenge event. I am observing that certain small details are being misrepresented in the overview of the Challenge because people didn’t properly communicate and aren’t aware of the overall situation. For example, Derek was disturbed by lack of help setting up the teacher breakfast bar while Lydia wasn’t and they were working together. Emily communicated that few helped with posters and those who did communicated very late. However, I attempted active communication for the span of several weeks before the event and I also made sure to do more than my share to help her with that. Naomi scheduled the EOTY dance for the week after Prom because she said there were prior commitments planned for every other week of May. However, Vasche expressed disapproval in our decision and disputed the claim of prior commitments because she said nothing was on the calendar. Administration had limited knowledge of the dance even though there was physical evidence that they had confirmed communication of this information. I don’t want to say too much because I may have misunderstandings as well regarding what happened. Additionally, participation was lacking overall because there were several people who seemed to go unnoticed and not take up their part in the event. I am not sure if it was just that they were busy, were lacking direction, or were just burnt out. It could be a combination of all three but during the Challenge, we were not at our best for some reason.
Positive Comment:
I would like to give a shoutout to Naomi for organizing the Challenge. She led us with the presentation and created the base for an awesome week of engaging celebration. In doing so, she used the “give, ask, give,” principle and made sure people knew the message of appreciation that we were trying to share. I want to give a shoutout to David who is working very hard right now between leadership and his AP classes. I want to give a shout out to Makenzie who ran in the dirt in a prom dress to help the DJ who made significant errors with his equipment. Her dedication to Prom was very much appreciated. There were so many things out of her control and she still helped everyone to the best of her ability. The Prom was awesome, one of the best that I have seen, and it is due to her hard work. I also want to give thanks to everyone who joined me at the table at the ASB Banquet. My family had canceled last-minute so my table for 4 quickly became only myself. However, Lydia and Gideon joined me initially and soon it was a full table of leaders. That was awesome because I felt less alone at that moment. I can always count on these people to extend genuine kindness and care to others.
Change:
One change I’d like to see is in our overall organization of committees. Instead of isolating members among various tasks, we should work to be more interconnected. I liked the idea of someone who proposed committee group chats because it would provide an avenue for active communication. This could potentially contribute to more members possibly fulfilling their committee responsibilities if there is a system of accountability put in place.
My Impact:
Ripon Unified School District has begun to comply with state requirements in sorting organic vs inorganic waste. They called upon the Environmental Advocacy Club to take lead on this project and we have helped in every possible way over the past few weeks. We filmed an informational video for Ripon Elementary and followed that with classroom presentations. These presentations will continue at Ripona where the project will start next. Additionally, even though we don’t have the time to present in-person at Weston, we will film another video to show there. Simultaneously, we have club members at lunch in the Ripon Elementary cafeteria serving as a familiar face to assist in the sorting process. This is all to make an actionable impact preventing food waste from going to the landfill. When food decomposes in the same environment as other waste, it turns into methane which is a potent greenhouse gas. If it is composted separately, it is not as harmful and can then be used as fertile soil for agriculture or for turbine-turning electricity generation. Our work is helping spread environmental literacy among young children and allows the school district an opportunity to better comply with the state environmental standards.