Name: Dillan Saltsman Date: 1 September 2022 Position: ASB Executive Board Member
Position Assessment:
My leadership experience started this year when I attended Core Camp and was able to be a part of that shared experience while contributing to our Core Sessions. Then I attended the Leadership Training Day where we reviewed a lot of paperwork. It was established here that one of my daily tasks would be the responsibility for attendance of Seniors within the Leadership program. I am getting better at accounting for everyone and made a list so I can do that with swift accuracy. This day was also when I made sure people signed up for the RUSD Board Meeting on August 8, 2022. After the training, I followed a group of others to assist Mr. Ramirez and the office staff in sorting papers for upcoming Registration.
On the day of Registration, students and parents gathered to take care of technicalities before the school year. I was partnered with David to work at the ASB table where we sold stickers (Dude Be Nice) and bracelets (Pura Vida), explained the purpose of and marked people for the ASB sticker, and handed out a copy of the revised bell schedule. We made quite a few sales and were also handling a steady flow of people desiring an ASB sticker for the entire duration of that day’s registration.
I went to the board meeting on the second Monday of August. It was nice to see familiar faces and new ones alike as I was sworn in. I familiarized myself with the other district staff and board members in attendance and they were all very friendly. At this meeting, the most important agenda items were recapping summer projects that had happened at different schools in the district, recognizing a couple of outstanding staff members, and introducing the new staff hired to fill empty positions for the new school year. Other necessary items were shifted onto the agenda for the next meeting which will occur on the second Monday of September.
In the first week of school, I was at a Club Committee meeting that served as a precursor to Club Rush planning. I was Team Lead in charge of the Club Rush event on August 26, 2022. I worked with Public Relations to publicize posters and social media designs, talked to technology commissioners to ensure music for the day of the event, and collaborated with Morty to organize an efficient event setup. Overall, we did well as I fulfilled my original intentions and therefore achieved the envisioned outcome as a result. Students were highly engaged and overall several clubs recruited between 50 and 100 new members. It serves as a strong foundation for our student organizations moving into the new school year.
I also assisted my ASB team in selling Back to School Dance Tickets. I handed out beaded necklaces for one day and the other two days were filled with other commitments that prohibited me from being a further help. I very much appreciate the rest of the ASB team for being understanding and working hard to sell tickets in my absence. We had considerably more people purchase at the door of the dance than expected, which resulted in a higher profit. As part of the ASB team, I assisted in reconstructing the curtains that would block off part of the MUB during the dance and participated in successful setup/cleanup of the dance.
As of now, I am looking towards further communication with the Superintendent’s executive assistant, Grace Luke. We corresponded regarding featuring me in the Discover Ripon magazine as a new student board member and I sent a short bio to be included. I will soon reach out to schedule a meeting with the superintendent preliminary to the Board Meeting on September 12, 2022. I will be attending the board meeting and fulfilling my obligations there as instructed. At the same time, I will keep in communication with club presidents as they start to host their first club meetings and make sure everything is going smoothly for them.
Standing Committee:
I am a part of the Club Committee. We had one meeting during the first Friday lunch of the school year to plan participation in Club Showcase and Club Rush. This was anticipating the events that would follow in the coming weeks and engage clubs in the opportunity to recruit new members. Our next meeting will be in the middle of September so I will coordinate with the AD to create an agenda.
Special Committee:
During Core Camp, I got necessary experience during my Job Sessions as we worked together to both run a Swap Shop and execute a popsicle fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. My Swap Shop was a discussion of the topic “ For the Black Light Rally, I became a part of the technology committee. In this, I was tasked with assisting technology commissioners to cover blacklight wires and in any other way necessary. I was also partnered with Jenna in a small group to create a recycling solution for the Back to School Dance. This included making signs for trash/recycling as well as bringing collection bags, emptying the bottles during cleanup, and transporting them to the local recycling center as a representative of Ripon High’s Environmental Club.
Mentorship Evaluation, from Core Camp to the Present:
I got to spend time with my mentor while traveling to and from Core Camp. Mia, Ximena, and I were all together on the travels between Ripon and UC Santa Cruz and got to know each other better. My next experience with my mentor was at the training day. Ximena actually had more knowledge about Procedure Forms than I did so it was interesting to hear her insight while also helping answer any of her questions. Then we spent time with mentors in class at the start of the school year. I was available in case she needed any assistance with her website. However, she didn’t run into any significant issues during this process and her website looks amazing right now. I am very excited to get to know my mentor buddy better and set forward into the school year with her.
Concerns:
One concern I have right now is that I am unsure how to best support my mentor. Previously, my mentor buddy was Sofia who at the time was new to the program. This provided ample opportunity for me to ask questions and guide her as she developed her leadership skills. This year, Ximena is my mentor and this will be her second year in the program. Therefore, she has a wide range of preexisting knowledge and seems to need less guidance. Therefore, I must formulate new ways that I can engage with my mentor and be a better help. I hope that I can begin to get closer with Ximena and share some awesome moments with her this year. I will be brainstorming ways to be a better mentor.
Positive Comment:
I want to commend Makenzie right now who has been absolutely stellar from the start of this school year. I can tell that she wants to see all of us succeed and she has made a conscious effort to help every single person within this program in whatever way she can. In addition, Makenzie has put in extra time to make sure we are organized as we move into some very large events. Her innovative and creative ideas are also much appreciated. One such enacted idea was Club Showcase which turned out great and was another valuable opportunity for clubs to share what they do. Overall, Makenzie is bringing this school year to a strong start and it sets the energy that will hopefully follow throughout the rest of this school year.
Change:
One change I would like to see is incorporation of team bonding where possible in the projects we do. I feel like we all have a boost of confidence and feel more comfortable when we are familiar with each other and feel the enveloping feeling of being supported by our Leadership family. Therefore, the interactions we have with each other are valuable and when paired thoughtfully with our work, we can still maintain those while being productive on the tasks at hand.
My Impact:
Right now, I am continuing strong in my academics while I build a great profile for college applications. My previous extracurricular involvement is continuing while I also expand with the writing of a research paper with an accredited institution on the topic of environmental science. At the same time, I am taking a full schedule of the most advanced courses available to me in order to best prepare myself for an accelerated curriculum in my next educational step. I balance this with a personal and professional life where I aim to strengthen my communication with others. I am also trying to take better care of myself amidst a lot of stress because the Core Principle, “We starts with you,” resonates with me. I agree that we must be united and support each other in order to cohesively achieve our full potential.
September/October ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman Date: 10/17/2022 Position: ASB Executive Board Member
Position Assessment:
On the first Wednesday of September, I had my first meeting with the superintendent. During this, I learned more about my responsibilities as a student board member as well as the dynamic of the board overall. This was in preparation of the September Board Meeting. I led the pledge of allegiance and presented my first student report of the exciting activities at the school year’s beginning. I didn’t actually create this report though since we had not yet hosted a meeting with all of the schools at that point.
Our district-wide meeting occurred subsequently and our ASB team was able to present on Ripon High events such as Registration, the Back to School Dance, multiple rallies, Homecoming competitions, an upcoming Halloween Dance, our future Dude Be Nice week, and a potential community service project. I made sure to take notes for all of the schools in preparation to create my first student report. At the October meeting with the superintendent, we reviewed my report. This was a particularly interesting meeting as I had formulated numerous questions and got to learn more about our school district. We discussed the format of the report, the differences between Ripon USD and surrounding districts, reviewing board policies, the issues affecting our schools, and more.
Then I presented my student report at the October Board Meeting which I was given creative freedom to build a template for. I was excited and Trustee Oase commented that it was the best student report he had seen. In the days following, I spoke with Trustee Hobbs about possibly adding pictures to the report, something no previous Ripon student board member has done. If no rules prohibit this, I will follow through with attempting to add pictures to engage the community.
I also attended a Ripon High Site Council meeting for the first time. Members of the council were able to introduce themselves and discuss LCAP funding use at our school. One area of interest was how we could accurately document our underserved students on campus in order to potentially qualify for a portion of Title 1 funding. If we could do this properly, it would expand opportunities for us to assist our unhoused and low income groups at Ripon High.
Standing committee:
I am a part of the club committee.. We had our September meeting and our first agenda item was discussing club participation in the Homecoming Parade. Clubs were given the opportunity to pick a song to represent for our theme of “We’ve Got the Beat,” and paperwork was distributed regarding that. We also talked about club participation in Dude Be Nice as clubs have the opportunity to nominate a dude/dudette and present a gift. In order to be in the Dude Be Nice rally, participants must be wearing a Dude Be Nice shirt or alternative black attire, so clubs were asked to get their necessary t-shirt orders in as soon as possible. Clubs were also given the opportunity to participate in a community service opportunity of writing holiday cards to the military, which were due mid October. An October club committee meeting will be happening this week and we shall discuss Dude Be Nice participation once more. We will also touch upon Warm and Fuzzy Week/Winterfest events if time permits. ASB also assisted the senior class with signs committee during the mornings of Homecoming that class competitions were occurring in order to allow our senior class officers to focus upon the Lemonade stand and windows.
Special committee:
I was involved in numerous special groups created for the purpose of Homecoming 2022. The senior night rally committee choreographed a lip sync to “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton and other related songs. Seven practices were held over a span of two weeks to organize over 40 individuals into our synchronized lip sync. After attending all practices and purchasing cowboy boots to complete my cowboy outfit, my partner and I helped our class win that battle and show an immense amount of spirit. For the gym decorating committee, I arrived on a Sunday to cut tablecloths, covering the bleacher seats in our class color, and create the overall Western design of our student section in preparation for the Pep Rally. For the float decorating committee, I checked with April at intervals to make sure we were on track to complete our float. The design was mainly elements to be placed onto the float at the end so I made sure to be available for whenever that was going to happen. During the night prior to the parade, we mostly blew up and tied balloons to create the two main balloon pillars. For the clean up crew, I involved the environmental advocacy club in picking up stray trash at the tail end of the Homecoming parade. We collected several bags and the club plans to continue this effort annually for the future years of the parade. The risers committee was involved in the Powderpuff game and I led the group in the layout of these risers as directed by Ms. Ochoa. We took care to make sure the gold decorations attached were not damaged, that the risers were disassembled properly, and that the photobooth was returned to the Student Store. In addition, I was on standby for the chain gang in case Kade needed someone on the field. I helped along with Leadership as a whole to clean up after the Homecoming football game and also assisted Pride Tribe in taking their spirit gear back to the Student Store. The week following, I helped along with Leadership as a whole to both setup and clean up the Halloween Dance decorations for the freshman class.
Mentorship evaluation:
This month, we had multiple opportunities to sit with our mentor. During this time, I worked on military cards and also helped multiple classes as well as Pride Tribe with organizing their t-shirt distributions. I would like to note how hardworking my mentor is as she dedicated herself fully to her class during this time of teamwork. She stayed organized and calm as the sophomore class did amazing with the various Homecoming competitions. The sophomores are definitely a strong class and I could not be happier with the level of excellence that my mentor exhibits every day. I was able to help her when she was collaborating with freshmen for the Halloween dance because I provided her with a contact for the Drama Club. At this time a month prior to the dance, Drama Club had expressed its desire to contribute a haunted house to the dance as an added element of fun. I will actively look for more ways to help my mentor as she surely does even more great things throughout this year.
Concerns:
I feel like participation from some members of our Leadership family is lacking right now. I notice many people are missing when we cohesively set out to support one another and create events. This is especially detrimental during such stressful times of year as Homecoming and the Halloween Dance. We really do need everybody and all of our student leaders are of such high value. Therefore, I hope that in the future we will all come together once again so we can continue achieving the things we set out to do.
Positive comment:
I would like to praise the freshman class for all of their hard work. They made it through the most stressful season of the year and did so very well. The gym decorations were definitely a learning experience but they were able to solve the challenge of accentuating yellow writing quite well. I enjoyed their lemonade stand as it stood out with bright, shiny collars. I especially enjoyed taking pictures of them at the night rally and parade. They are all definitely dancing queens and rocked the dance floor well, becoming my favorite of all because of how well they were organized. At the Halloween Dance, I was so pleasantly surprised to find out a costume contest was occurring because it reminded me of the good memories from my first year. Overall, the freshmen have handled everything so well and will continue to improve as we go forward.s
Change:
I wonder if there is any way we could support our freshmen better. I loved the effort they put forth during Homecoming and their float was my favorite part. However, I could definitely see that they were struggling while the more experienced classes were dealing with their own aspects of the competition. I hope the freshmen can see us as a strong asset to them since we all definitely want to help. I can speak as a senior to say that when I leave Ripon High, I want the classes that remain to be as successful as possible and keep the school an awesome place to be even after I’m gone. It is important to the life of our Leadership program that we maintain our excellence and support one another in everything we do.
My impact:
The Class of 2023 finally won Homecoming and it couldn’t have been any more exciting. With my active participation in nearly all of the class events as well as working school wide to make Homecoming as successful as possible, the students and staff had a great time. It is so important for me to show the rest of the school high value in what is my favorite event of the school year. I am glad to have been a strong contributor to our efforts in class competitions. Although there are definite areas I could improve upon, I feel like showing up and being there for my class and the program as a whole was important as I aim to create a positive impact in all that I do.
November Special ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman Date: 11/16/2022 Position: ASB Executive Board Member
Position Assessment:
This month, the student cabinet meeting was rescheduled to coordinate with our November board meeting date. During the student cabinet meeting, I was able to take notes on the events occurring at all but two schools who were represented. I took time after hours to get information for Weston and Park View Elementary on my Student Board Report. After being unsuccessful in discovering events on Park View’s activities calendar, I arranged a meeting with the Superintendent and we jointly got in contact with the school site’s administration. All members of the student cabinet, including our ASB team, were invited to be recognized for their valuable contributions in the group meetings. Abby showed up along with representatives from other schools and they were able to accept their award. It was nice to see so many familiar faces in the crowd that night. I made sure to comment on how awesome it had been to be a part of such an insightful group of leaders so far. I also had a separate meeting with the Superintendent during lunch one day to discuss my student report. We reviewed the meeting agenda and I made sure to ask all the questions that I had. Unfortunately, I was unable to arrange for photos to be included on the report due to the restrictive deadline and communication with admin. However, I was still able to put together a great report and also vote on all relevant action items. After Thanksgiving break, I will be creating another student report for the December meeting and will need to get in contact with the schools since we do not currently have another student cabinet meeting scheduled for December. Therefore, I will set up a meeting with the Superintendent and within that, I hope to also brag about some of the awesome work Ripon High is doing right now. I look forward to seeing our vice presidents and ASB team do their presentations at that meeting and I’m sure the other trustees share that same anticipation. Prior to that meeting, we have a site council meeting scheduled for December 5th so I will be attending that with Mr. Rangel where we will discuss our school-specific needs and concerns. It is important information that I can take with me and keep in mind while making decisions that impact all staff/students in our district.
Standing committee:
I assisted the agenda of and attended our November club committee meeting. A set of morning announcements as well as a social media post were created to inform our club advisors and presidents of the meeting date and location. We had a great turnout which was important because we were discussing several upcoming events. We reminded all clubs of the Ruby Bridges National Walk to School that the Multicultural Club was hosting for Ripon at the Community Center. We also invited all of our organizations to our upcoming Grateful for our Origins community service project and informed them of Club Picture Day organized by Yearbook for the following week. Further into the future, we went in depth explaining our holiday tree competition and new holiday pillar idea.
Currently, we have five total groups signed up to participate in our holiday tree competition: FFA, Red Cross Club, Hiking Club, Drama/Kindness Club, and Plant/Environmental Club. This is in addition to the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior trees. There is no height maximum/minimum for the tree but the tree should center around a particular theme and lights are highly recommended. This theme can be something related to holiday spirit, the group’s goals, or anything else you want it to represent as long as it is consistent. Trees will be put up on December 7th at 4pm in the MUB. Morty will have power cords available so we can light up all trees at the same time during our Holiday Night Rally. All of our awesome trees will stay up for display until December 16th and groups are asked to take their own tree down in the end.
Special committee:
I have chosen to involve myself in several special committees in the past month. In preparation for the Yearbook rally, I joined the other Seniors to brainstorm superlative titles for our students who will be specially recognized. These will be sent to the Yearbook to be decided upon.
I also signed up to help with the vice presidents’ Grateful for our Origins community service project. I have volunteered to help paint at Ripon Elementary. When David was collecting schools to be part of the project, I also provided contact information for Weston Elementary’s principal.
For the CASL project, I became a team lead for the question, “How does your program promote a heart for service among the student body?” There are so many good ideas we had for this topic and my team did great formulating a variety of ideas. We centered around our recognitions such as Dude Be Nice and Grand Marshal that promote kindness, as well as our student organizations on campus that engage with community service and a give-ask-give model of event planning. We also incorporated what it means to be an ACE at Ripon High because we feel that is important to what characterizes our service-oriented mindsets. As of now, all ideas are listed out and I am about halfway through synthesizing these ideas into paragraph form. By the time I get to the ASB meeting, I aim to be further than halfway through. However, I need to make sure that it actually flows well so it makes sense while still incorporating everything we aim to represent. If necessary, I will work over the Thanksgiving break and get this completed ASAP.
For our NatStuCo application, I took time after school to attend a Zoom meeting alongside Morty and the ASB team. In this, we were able to learn about the application which must now be submitted in a new format. I took some notes just in case we needed to remember anything in particular. NatStuCo also had the opportunity for us to feature one of our events/projects on their social media and we chose to document our most recent Dude Be Nice event. Mackenzie completed the summary and photos of that event and we were able to be featured. Soon, we will be having a meeting with Mr. Rangel to have him fill out a portion of the application and we will also document us presenting our application and ideas at the December board meeting.
Positive comment:
I would like to extend a positive comment towards everyone in this program for reaching out and growing comfortable with one another. I feel like there is a great deal of special trust between one another which allows us to tackle lists such as the one on the website and get so many things done at the same time. I enjoy being able to talk and connect with many people while seeing how each of you work so hard in our program, even if that is in different ways. We have a better understanding of our class as a whole, in both individual strengths and weaknesses, which make us assets to one another while cohesively working towards common goals. Furthermore, it allows us to maintain this as a safe space and also for us to keep secrecy of such things as the identity of our Grand Marshal or Dudette.
That leads me into my next positive comment because I would also like to shout out the Juniors for doing an awesome job organizing all of Dude Be Nice. They put in a lot of work and our Dudette was so excited while being showered in numerous gifts. I am sure it is a moment Ms. Van Vuren will remember for a long time. I had so much fun spying and getting some of the insider information for them all and the execution was so on point. Even when faced with challenges, the Junior Officer team was able to improvise, adapt, and overcome. Thank you to everyone for their support in this event and also to the Junior class for the large role they had in making it such a success.
Change:
One change I would like to see is more communication between myself and my ASB President. At times, we will be tasked with a collaborative project as an ASB team and I find it difficult to keep up with our progress. She always does such amazing work but she has done many things by herself and while I appreciate her so much, I definitely hope she doesn’t feel obligated to tackle it alone. We are all here to support each other and I am open to helping in any way possible. She is also so involved with various activities and manages to balance it all which is amazing, but I am still getting accustomed to keeping connected with her. I hope to establish a strong mode of communication because it is exciting to think about the magnitude of impact we can create when we all work together.
Concern:
One concern I have is that our class isn’t always in tune with each other. I have observed that some people aren’t on task but more often I am just not completely aware of what others are doing while I am doing my own thing. For a while, we were given a list of to-dos and given the freedom of work-days for an extended period of time. I feel like having everyone share in the ASB meeting is important because it helps me understand better what other people are doing. We are all very hardworking individuals but I can best coordinate my efforts with other people when I understand what is going on around me. I definitely see the value in that freedom of work days and the ability to focus on our own unique to-do list. I would say it is merely a personal preference for me to know the progress of things. It might give me an ability to pace myself differently, compensate for challenges, and assist others better if necessary.
My Impact:
I feel like I work very hard in this program. My work is unique, expanding so much into the community. I do just as much work in class as I do outside of it and I get to develop relations with new people all the time. It should be interesting working with new board members after the election andI will take it on with the same level of stride. A highlight of my work is aiding in the success of our student organizations. Throughout my high school career, I have immersed myself in the world of various clubs and it has been a great way for me to network with other students while also indulging in my favorite interests. I am so glad to give back by supporting our clubs in every way possible. It is important to me that they all stay alive and reach their full potential, especially since I will be leaving for college next year and one legacy I hope to leave behind is upon our club culture. Overall, there is not a moment in this program where I don’t have something on my to-do list. It isn’t any sort of overwhelming pressure but I definitely stay intentional while balancing it all. Leadership is such a rewarding endeavor and I see it as a privilege being part of such an amazing, supportive, hardworking, cohesive group.
December ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman Position: ASB Executive Board Member Date: 15 December 2022
Position Assessment:
The ASB team prepared for and attended a meeting with Mr. Rangel to discuss the NatStuCo application. I discussed general activities/operations and council operations. It involved the ways that our school creates a sense of cohesiveness through student organizations and schoolwide events. I also mentioned the ways that our program engages in the community whether that be through our spending, our work at the elementary school sites, our transparency with paperwork, and our dedication to welcoming the incoming freshmen annually.
I also had a meeting with the Superintendent this month to review my student board report. Since our student cabinet meeting was rescheduled to coordinate with the November meeting, we didn’t have an accompanying student cabinet meeting for the month of December. Therefore, I looked at the master calendar for each school site and we jointly reached out to administration at Ripona Elementary. It was a shorter presentation this time because the meeting format is different for December. I was also introduced to the new Secretary of the Superintendent since Grace, the previous secretary, has been promoted to a position at the county office.
My second meeting with the Superintendent was during lunch to look over the meeting agenda for December. I am making sure to communicate better with my peers in Leadership on what meeting they are signed up to attend this year so they can complete their assignment and stay up to date. Closed session discussed issues of pending expulsions and then on a lighter note, we got to hear from a children’s band/choir. We also recognized our swim and water polo athletes for their state title with awards. In the end we were able to swear in a new board member, Trustee Jason Winter. Positions were also reassigned on the board and Trustee Oase has been nominated as head of our regional delegates for CSBA.
The site council meeting with Rangel was held one week prior to discuss construction occurring on campus. Ripon Elementary is receiving two new permanent classrooms while Ripon High will get one permanent classroom as well as the new CTE building. All are currently under construction but the classrooms are expected to be open after winter break. The CTE building is not expected to be completed until sometime in the next school year.
As an ASB team we have contributed to several events together in the past month. We did plan to submit an ASB holiday tree for the night rally during Warm and Fuzzy which didn’t work out due to unforeseen sickness but we hope it serves as inspiration for the future ASB to do the same. We also served hot cocoa at lunch on the Friday of Warm and Fuzzy Week and participated in the creation of the Leadership 2022-23 video put together by our awesome technology commissioners. Currently, I am working on my community service final with the FFA tree as well as my speech with the topic, “The Power of Yoga”. I hope to attend my first Yoga Club Meeting to gain some insight into this world. I will also soon be assisting with ASB and Class Elections as necessary in January as we begin to form the incoming class of Leadership’s program next year. I also look forward to the January board meeting when ASB will be presenting our decision to apply for the NatStuCo Gold Council of Excellence Award. I have already told many people about it and they all share in my excitement. Further on, I will continue working on my elder project and the community service aspect of that.
Standing Committee:
I am part of the Club Committee and we came together at our most recent meeting to discuss holiday trees for the Warm and Fuzzy Week. We had fifteen groups representing themselves with thirteen trees at our night rally. The rally was very fun as we had a hot cocoa social, sang carols, and partnered with Esports for a video game competition. Overall, it was a positive experience for all and the trees looked awesome all night. In January, we hope to have our student organizations make Canva creations to publicize on our school cork board and on the ASB Instagram page so our clubs can get more recognition for all of the amazing things they do.
Special Committee:
This past month, I was part of a special group alongside David to prepare a document full of 40 quotes. This was for the balloon activity before Thanksgiving break to express gratitude and give people the words they needed in that moment. I also helped to clean up after Winter Formal with the Junior Class. I then helped with the Grateful for our Origins Community Service Project by helping to paint the poles red at Ripon Elementary. They turned out very nice and that school site now has a more cohesive color. In preparation for Warm and Fuzzy Week, I also decorated five classroom doors with wrapping paper alongside my team leader, Ava Keast.
Mentorship Evaluation:
This month, we are having our ASB Report graded by our mentor. Therefore, we have been sitting with our mentor during class more often and I have gotten to stay more up to date with what my mentor is doing and what the sophomore class is doing as a whole. They did a great job on their holiday tree and I enjoyed how they tied together the Night Before Christmas theme. She is such a hardworking leader doing great as the Sophomore Vice President. I can see how her peers look up to her for guidance and support which is an amazing thing. She has developed so strongly over the past two years and it is awesome to see the sophomores be such a tight-knit, bonded group.
Concerns:
One concern I have is that the mentorship system may fade away in the coming years. I believe that Avery’s idea was a great one and my mentor from last year, freshman Sophia, benefited a lot from having someone who was always there to help her. We had fun helping with events together, going out to lunch, and always being there to talk. I have still remained close with Sophia and it was a great experience. This year, people naturally gravitated towards others and my current mentor, Ximena, is so great at what she does that she often doesn’t need my help. In fact, there have been times when she knows more than I do about the various forms of paperwork that need to be completed for events. We also did a lot more work with our teams and with bonding as a whole program that the dynamic of the mentorship program has changed a bit. I do not know what the future may hold for applying this idea of individual mentorship to future years of this program.
Positive Comment:
I want to send my praises towards Jaydin this month! First of all, she was so adaptable when it came to community service and even though she may have been apprehensive about moving to the Stadium Project, she overcame that road bump with stride. She remains positive through the toughest situations and I appreciate that. The idea for a day of roses and thorns was great as well and I think it gave us all a moment to be mindful. There have been so many good things, big and small, to celebrate in all of us. There have also been a lot of challenges faced by members of our program lately so opening that space for people to get things off of their chest is important. I praise everyone who was there that day for sharing and opening themselves up to the support of their Leadership family. Change:
One change I would like to see is an importance upon the debrief after our events. I take a couple of notes after a large event is completed because I hear the feedback of students and staff. However, we have not done the pros and cons often enough in the past month so I have looked for other ways to share my praises and concerns. One such was regarding the VP Community Service Project. The school sites are very appreciative of the hard work our students put into helping out and making our schools look amazing. I shared at the board meeting about all of the hard work that went into that and everyone was very excited to hear about our acts of service. Our parent volunteers deserve a special thank you for being out there and supervising on their day off. One concern I heard from the lady who runs Love Ripon is that she felt there could have been improved communication between the VPs and the organization. When a group of people were told in class that they would be reporting to the Stadium Project instead of Colony Oak, we didn’t find out until the day that it had actually been changed again and that half of those people were moved to Ripona to help with garden boxes. I also was contacted by Harvest High after the event because they had some weeding to be done and had not been contacted. They said that they would love to be one of the school sites available to volunteers if this project is done again next year. Half of what makes our events great is our open-mindedness to create better in the future. Therefore, I feel like such large events need to have a dedicated debrief session.
My Impact:
I have been focusing on making sure that I am 100% in the moment for most of the time. This is because I began noticing that I would be doing a task but simultaneously preoccupied by something else in my mind. There have been so many exciting things happening lately that I know I would not want to miss. Therefore, I hope to be more present because any ups or downs are going to happen regardless of whether I spend time incessantly worrying. I am also attempting to be as involved as possible on the school board while praising all of the amazing students that make Ripon Unified what it is. I realize the privilege I have in representing such a high-achieving, diverse, accomplished, creative student community. It is my ultimate job to highlight all of that because I hope that these students will be inspired to send themselves towards bright futures.
January ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman Position: ASB Executive Board Member Date: 6 February 2023
Position Assessment:
This month involved multiple meetings as the schools prepared to open again after the long winter break. With the start of the new year, LCAP results were released and discussed for our district. I had a meeting with the Superintendent to talk about our increasing emphasis upon arts education in particular. I subsequently attended a site council meeting where we discussed what we would want to add to the LCAP concentration list in order to best serve the needs and concerns of our students/staff. I was also invited by Mr. Rangel to attend a district-wide LCAP site council meeting at Harvest High. Here, staff and students were able to give feedback and relevant context from their perspective on the concerns that parents and students brought up on the LCAP survey.
The board meeting made those LCAP results public, discussing how we score relatively high in all areas. Ripon still lacks on the math standards and Ripon High in particular deals with chronic absenteeism. However two schools, Ripon El and Park View, were distinguished for performing exceptionally well this past year. The January Board Meeting also involved reviewing the district-wide annual audit, which returned clear of any issues. The audit provides an unbiased opinion which is the highest quality opinion that can be performed and achieved by an auditing agency. The district is doing well with its funding this year but caution is recommended as our reliance upon one-time funding will not be renewed by the governor’s measures in the coming year, possibly hinting at a shortfall. Our Vice Presidents also presented on their community service project which was exciting to hear and the last step in completing our NatStuCo application for this year.
In the weeks following the board meeting, I attended a student board member training virtually with the California School Board Association. I got to learn a lot about caveats of board interactions under the Brown Act. I am currently putting together an addition to my February Student Report recapping the training and I can hopefully pass on this professional insight to the individual who will be filling my position in the coming year. In preparation for the February board meeting, a student cabinet meeting was held. I assisted with preparation for that meeting in light of present concerns by contacting the new Secretary to the Superintendent and organizing email notifications for the meetings. I also tried to get attendance issues figured out.
In the future, I will be attending a site council meeting again and also creating my Student Board Report for February. I will be having a meeting with the Superintendent to review the agenda and then hopefully follow up on the special board meeting that was held to discuss the open property adjacent to Harvest High.
Standing committee:
I am part of the Club Committee. Our committee has progressed forward with the idea of club publicity on the bulletin board so canva creations are currently being submitted by club leaders to be laminated and tacked on.
Special committee:
I am involved with numerous spring committees to report upon. I am currently assisting with Valentine hearts which were distributed to me by Brianna. I will cut out and write on hearts so each student gets a personalized message expressing appreciation for them on Valentine’s Day. I am also involved in the 8th grade welcome day committee so I talked to Gabby and Alizeh about the plan for that. They were hoping that clubs could be involved to give 8th graders a better feel for high school involvement. I could definitely coordinate that but I must meet with the entire committee in order to determine how that may happen. For the CADA conference, I agreed to present as long as I have a partner with me. I am excited to share knowledge with the middle school students in our CADA area. For the Almond Blossom Parking Lot committee, I am a leader and we deliberated on how to keep people accountable for working their shift. I liked the idea of establishing shift leads that would be in charge of each shift. For the future I will be working on the Challenge committee, Tribe Awards committee, and Gallery of the Arts committee as needed. I will also be assisting the Dodgeball committee by helping to clean up after one of the matches.
Mentorship Evaluation:
Although it was sad to lose our old mentorship pairing that we had since Core Camp, I was intrigued to find out who my new mentor would be for this semester. I was paired with Lucia which is awesome because she is a great person to talk to. David has begun creating monthly quests for us to do with our mentor which is fun because it prompts us to get closer with our mentors. This month, we were to go out to lunch with our mentor. Lucia and I went out one day to a nice lunch spot together. It was nice and gave us a chance to share all things leadership. The juniors’ organization of prom is to be soon approaching and I am excited to hear more about that. Our quest for next month is the same lunch but we will specifically discuss the legacy we want to leave at Ripon High, which should be interesting.
Concerns:
A concern I have is the intense ways that many individuals in our leadership community are currently struggling. The medical incident that happened in class revealed a lot of deeper sentiments that my peer leaders are holding. It also revealed the ways they were struggling in personal life and how the incident served as a tipping point. The restorative circle further highlighted that people deal with unexpected struggles in their lives that we have no knowledge of. Then it is also important to note that the community as a whole has experienced the tragic loss of a Ripon High alumni. Even those who weren’t personally close with him knew him by name. He was such an accomplished and genuinely kindhearted individual as well as a past leader in this program. Overall, this month of January has been characterized by grief, stress and hardship for many of us.
Positive comment:
I want to dedicate my positive comment once again towards Makenzie. When a medical emergency occurred in class, she was one person who stood out for helping her peers. She was intentional in making sure that everyone was okay since the entire class was shaken by that incident. She then reached out via text message to everyone that day extending her support for us all. She definitely holds our class together well through the thick and thin moments. She puts her most authentic self forward and it is these moments that shine with how caring, strong, and empathetic of a person she is. I consider it a great privilege to serve the student body under her leadership in our program. Change:
One thing I would like to see is people extend compassion towards one another. After we pass through a tough and challenging moment in time, we tend to push it away and not talk much about it. I fear that some people may embark upon struggles in isolation, missing out on the understanding that we are a lot more similar than we may perceive ourselves to be. It is understandable that everyone has a part of their personal story that they don’t speak out loud. However, I feel like we can lead ourselves as more compassionate individuals towards one another with that in mind. I was very fond of our core principles this year. They were:
1. Be purposeful, be passionate, be powerful through communication. 2. Work with each other, not against. 3. We starts with you. 4. Rise and fall in unity.
I helped to develop the document which would be sent to Norm suggesting ideas of what we should work on at Encore. I find it admirable the supportive atmosphere we create for one another in our safe Leadership space. I am interested in seeing how we will be able to work with our core principles to be a stronger team together as we tackle the rest of the year.
My Impact:
Right now I am working on a very large club event. The Environmental Advocacy Club plans to take a trip down to Monterey, CA in the beginning of March. We will hike by the sea, visit some tidepools, and then stop by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is in partnership with Hiking Club and sponsored in part by the Ripon Boosters Club. We are even going to have matching t-shirts and Mr. Ramirez will be there so I am very excited. The club also recently partnered with the Gravity Water Youth Initiative, partnering with our sister school in Vietnam to transition them from groundwater dependence to entirely rainwater harvesting. We are tasked with raising $2,500 before the end of the year so we are currently collaborating to decide how this is going to be possible for us. I am so thankful for the fact that this club has developed so much over the past three years that I have been part of it. I feel very good about leaving such a strong foundation for this club as I aim to pass it on to my trusted peers in the coming years.
February Special ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman Position: ASB Board Member Date: 6 March 2023
1. What committee(s) have you been place on, explain them, what is your role?
We just finished up with our 8th Grade Day committee as I accompanied the seniors in serving food for the event. I was also on call for any other assistance including with the clubs during setup for lunch. Five clubs were set up in the perimeter of the baseball field for 8th graders to visit so these students could get a better idea of student life before they arrive to campus next year. Gallery of the Arts is soon approaching and I am part of the group creating a publicity video. I also helped April get in contact with trustees of the district board as well as the superintendent to extend a formal invitation. I was also on the Almond Blossom committee so I volunteered at the Almond Blossom Parking Lot. I got the chance to see many of my peers there including Mina, Gabby C, Gabby M, Gia, Sofia, Alizeh, David, and more. I was stationed at the front to evenly distribute the entrance lines at the festival. Since we had too many people signed up for our shift, we agreed to move one hour later to further assist where needed. Our shift was around noon on Saturday February 25th, 2023 for approximately three hours.
2. What did you contribute during the week to the committee work and presentation for next week?
For the Challenge, I am on the Teacher Appreciation and Community Gift committees. On Monday, I supplied all committees with their necessary POs and announcement forms. I have also created a list of clubs to contact about possibly creating carnival games for the Student Appreciation Committee. I am assigned to the Teacher Appreciation committee to write a one-page letter to Mr. Flanders and Ms. Burton. Spencer is ordering the special paper for these letters and we will be tying fake roses for an added personal touch. I have volunteered my jute twine to tie roses to the letters. I am also assigned to the Community Gift Committee and each member of the class will write six letters each by Friday, for a total of nearly 260 letters. For members of the actual committee, we will be writing two additional letters to complete the total. Makenzie has already reached out to the eighth grade teachers who have agreed that after these letters are finished, they can be delivered to their respective schools by seniors who have a first period opt out.
3. What will you be in charge of the week of the challenge?
I am not currently a lead on any committee.
4. What are some pros that you saw during this week while planning and executing various items?
I like to see that everyone is very aware and up to date on their responsibilities. Makenzie has outlined her expectations very clearly and we have effectively mobilized to complete our efforts. It seems as if everyone is on task and there are people eager to turn in their work early. This demonstrates the level of commitment that my peers are holding themselves to when preparing for this event. We did a rehearsal of our presentation early in order to make sure that all slides would be taken care of. I felt that it nicely outlined our progress so far and what is still yet to come for our thoroughly-planned Challenge events.
5. What are some cons that you saw during this week while planning and executing various items?
One potential con I see is that my peers in Leadership tend to take on more than they can realistically handle. It is tough because they feel such a pressure to succeed but by attempting to go far beyond expectations, they set themselves up for an increased likelihood of lesser-quality work. We need to make sure that we are all on the same page and maintain active lines of communication. I fear that there will be at least one person who won't fulfill their responsibilities and that is enough to complicate the plan we are executing right now. When not everyone does their part, it is a reflection upon all of us. If someone needs an extension of time or extra assistance with their task, they need to communicate that.
6. What will you be speaking about in the formal presentation?
For the Challenge presentation, I will be completing the slide that verifies we have contacted the appropriate individuals for food during our student appreciation events. This is particularly relevant to the dance where we hope to have snow cones, popcorn, and tacos. We contacted Rangel and gained approval to have food (including food catering) at the school for the End of the Year Dance. Therefore, we are in the process of contacting Meat Market for a quote on how much it would cost to feed tacos to about 200 people. We have also contacted Gracie and received approval to use her snow cone machine as of 2/27/2023. Approval was received on the same date by Ava B to use the popcorn machine. Transportation of the equipment needed for food is planned and taken care of since both Ava and Gracie have large enough vehicles. We are planning on having the snow cones and popcorn stationed near the tacos so all food remains in one place. I am presenting this information on the slide presentation on Monday with Devin.
7. What is your overall opinion of the event idea?
I love the event idea and believe that it will keep the school engaged. Summer kickoff is an excellent blend of the USA and tropical themes that we have stuck with for so long. I love to see something fresh that is so relevant to the time since we will all be looking towards summer break. One thing I wish we had planned was for more things that are outwardly visible to the student body. While the letters to teachers and 8th grade students are very impactful and heartfelt, they are both aspects that the student body cannot see. Students cannot recognize and feel connected with the event if they cannot see it. I do feel like everything we have planned so far is impactful and innovative though. As we alter certain aspects of the Challenge and embrace opportunities to test new ideas, we are keeping the Challenge fresh in a way that the student body will keep returning. If we simply cycled through the same procedure and picked from the same two themes every year, our school would lose interest. We need to constantly have this flow of new ideas in order to keep the Challenge as an event relevant to student and staff attention.
8. Do you believe this class will be successful in planning and executing this event?
I believe that the class can do whatever they put their mind to. We definitely have a reputation of thinking big ideas but I hope that we remember to take care of themselves at the same time. I definitely see the rationale behind getting the bulk of our work done early so we have less to stress about by the end of the year. However, we can still maintain a reasonable pace while keeping track of our deadlines and effectively executing this event on time. I believe at this point that the class has begun an excellent start to our Challenge planning. We have beyond a solid foundation which is awesome and makes our lives easier in the long run. The sooner that we get the logistics covered for the event is the sooner that we can begin publicizing to the student body.
9. What should be done to peers in the class that do not fulfill their jobs?
Peers who do not do their part are acting on their own accord. We rise and fall in unity so that will be the ultimate result of our actions. We as a Leadership whole will definitely put precautions in place to make sure that people hold themselves accountable and are reminded of their commitment by their peers. Sometimes that is as much as we can do.
10. What is your favorite aspect to this event? What are you excited most for occurring?
I love this event for the creative freedom it allows and the way it shows people’s true values. I feel like the dance especially is unlike other dances that we do. When we stray from tradition and do things that are more centered around the student body in the here-and-now, We are able to connect in special ways. It is the last large event that we put together as a Leadership family which is what makes it so special for us all.
April/May ASB Report
Name: Dillan Saltsman Position: ASB Executive Board Member Date: 8 May 2023
Position Assessment:
In March, I organized and led a club committee meeting per the request of Makenzie. The purpose was to encourage the clubs to participate in creating a carnival game for the end of the year dance. I offered Leadership’s resources and assistance as well as my own contact for any questions. Having club involvement would publicize them and also add a fun activity element to the dance. The meeting was also an opportunity to further promote the club flyers that we had been featuring on the bulletin board for the last month to publicize our clubs on campus.
We did not have a club committee meeting in April but we do have one scheduled for the middle of May. At this meeting, we will be reviewing necessary paperwork such as club constitutions and budgets. This is to ensure that all of our clubs can renew themselves for another school year and continue doing amazing things on campus. It will be our last club committee meeting of the year and lay the foundation for next year so clubs can be officially registered and immediately jump into Club Rush.
I have recently checked in with specific clubs who expressed interest in participating in the End of the Year Dance since that is fast approaching. As of right now, Red Cross Club is definitely creating a game but all other clubs are not 100% committed as far as I know. I will continue to offer our support so clubs are enabled to participate and can do so in the best way possible.
I had an early superintendent meeting with Dr. Robeson to plan for the March board meeting that was moved forward to accommodate our Spring Break schedule. I presented my student report at that meeting and then my next meeting with the superintendent was at the beginning of April. This was in preparation for the April Board Meeting at which I presented another student board report. Most recently, we had our last student cabinet meeting of the year so ASB got to meet with the rest of the leaders from the elementary and Harvest student councils. We all discussed our end of the year events while enjoying pizza, cookies, and drinks together. I took notes at this meeting and have already submitted my student board report to be presented at the May Board Meeting, the last meeting of the year. I have a preliminary superintendent meeting scheduled for today to review the agenda. I look forward to seeing multiple recognitions tonight including that of our over 70+ Seal of Biliteracy/Pathway to Biliteracy Awards.
I have reviewed the google doc from the beginning of the year where everyone in Leadership signed up to attend a board meeting. As of now, everyone is accounted for a spot and should be all set to have their board meeting notes and report submitted for their respective meeting. Since the last board meeting is May 8th, the last of the board meeting reports and notes should be turned in by May 12th and nobody will be marked missing for that assignment.
Standing committee:
I am not part of any standing committee at this time.
Special committees:
In March, I was involved in the execution of Leadership Development Day. I led a group of elementary student council leaders ranging from 4th to 8th grade in various activities throughout the day. I attended the morning training for these activities before actually leading the group alongside Kaiya. Overall it was a lot of fun and a great opportunity for me to practice my own leadership skills while also enriching the leadership knowledge of younger leaders. It was a very successful event and I would recommend that we host it again in the future.
I also helped the Dodgeball committee in March along with every other member of Leadership who chose a day to clean up the small gym after the event. I chose to help clean up after Friday’s final tournament.
I was part of the Gallery of the Arts committee that put black paper on the triangular pillars and was in charge of hanging up art as instructed by Mr. Bowers. I attended the event as well and was there in time to assist with cleaning up afterwards.
Leadership has continued working in preparation for our Challenge events in May. I am on the gift to community committee and wrote a total of eight cards to incoming freshmen of Ripon High. The purpose was to welcome them into our high school community and offer any advice if appropriate. All assigned letters have been written and sorted into enveloped groups. As of right now, we are recounting the letters to make sure we have enough for all of the 8th graders in our district. If we do not, then we will compensate by writing the rest of them and those will be sent out as soon as possible before the end of the school year. I also joined the Gift to Teachers committee and provided the twine necessary to attach roses to the teacher letters. I wrote a full-length letter to Mr. Flanders and Ms. Burton on the fancy paper provided.
Alongside the Tribe Awards committee for the event in April, I helped to set up the North Gym. This included putting out chairs and also helping to assemble a balloon creation. The balloons served as a creative backdrop for pictures during the ceremony. I always enjoy the ceremony so I join this committee every year to help. I actually joined before I knew that I would actually be receiving an award at this ceremony so that was an awesome surprise and the kind words that Ms. Ochoa shared with me in her award letter to me will live fondly in my memory.
I was initially supposed to be participating in the Love Ripon Community Service event for park beautification along with the rest of Leadership. However, I was at a college event that proved to be a time conflict. Therefore, I will be doing alternative community service in the month of May by helping the Booster Club at the Recycling Center on Saturdays.
I am also working with the rest of the ASB team currently to plan for our annual Leadership Banquet. As part of this planning, I created handwritten cards of appreciation for Dr. Robeson and all of our RUSD Board Trustees. I also wrote the certificate of appreciation for Ms. Vasche and an award letter for our honoree Ms. Van Vuren. I will keep stepping in and providing my help as we get closer to the event.
Lastly, I was paired with Brianna to present at the recent CADA Conference in Modesto. We created our material based on Makenzie’s Presentation titled “Being the Best Version of Yourself”. We put thorough preparation into our presentation in the days prior to the conference. When we arrived we had three computers, four printouts of our presentation, background music, and two scripts ready. We gave our presentation twice to the middle school groups and incorporated a sticky note activity that kept the student leaders engaged.
Mentorship Evaluation:
My mentor worked hard along with the rest of the Junior Class Officers to plan an awesome prom. The theme was “Let’s Groove Tonight” and they sold a lot of tickets so the event was well attended. Overall prom was very enjoyable this year and I praise the team for being so adaptable despite the challenges they faced along the way. I also got to see Lucia excel in her track events this season. Lucia is such a fun person to spend time with so I get to be with her in class while sitting in both mentor and curriculum seating. Therefore, we have several conversations and are able to have fun joking around. In preparation for Mock Interviews, I was able to provide her with constructive feedback on her resume and compliment the creative design of her website. In all other areas, Lucia has been an expert at what she does and I have enjoyed getting to see her push herself for excellence.
Concerns:
My main concern right now is that I have said “yes” to a lot of commitments in preparation for the end of the year. Now I must get to work on writing speeches, submitting applications, meeting deadlines, studying for AP tests, organizing a mock interview, completing community service, attending events, and more. I need to begin budgeting my time properly so everything will run smoothly and won’t end up slacking on anything as we wrap up this year. We are so close to the end of this year which is both exciting and terrifying for me at the same time. I need to keep myself going while realizing that nothing is too serious and that I really don’t have too much to stress about. I have already made it and gotten to the end so all I need to do is cross the finish line.
Positive comment:
My positive praises go to all of the sophomores in Leadership because they worked so hard to put on a great Senior Celebration Week recently. I appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into the various activities that they hosted. I loved to see all of the baby photos and it had been when I was searching for my own to contribute, I realized that it had been a long time since I had explored any of my baby photo albums. I got a lot of sentimental feelings being reminded of all of the people and experiences that have led me up to this point in my life. I feel like a celebration week was an awesome way to motivate us seniors to finish this year strong and reflect upon our high school experience. Then the sophomores also gave us a nice activity to do after a long day of CADA conference presenters. We got to create more of our personalized paper lanterns together and in those moments when I didn’t have the energy to do anything else, I enjoyed the opportunity to sit down for that simple creative project.
Change:
When I was at the CADA conference in Modesto, I listened to a presentation about how to survey students in a way that addresses their needs. I learned this from an activities director who teaches at a school near the East Bay Area. She uses methods that break students into various demographics to specifically target certain groups and give a more in depth view to identify patterns in the answers. In her example, she was surveying students about stress and although only about 60% of students reported feeling stressed, a percentage closer to 70-75% were in either their sophomore or junior year and a slightly higher percentage were female. Therefore, it enabled their wellness center on campus to both appeal to the entire student body and dedicate resources towards groups that were significantly affected by stress. Although our student body is much smaller than theirs, I believe it would still be a good idea to test out some survey ideas. We could test it out at this point so it can be a tool that we can implement effectively if the need ever arises.
My Impact:
I will be giving a speech as both salutatorian at the graduation ceremony and as a guest speaker at Weston Elementary’s promotion ceremony. I am glad to be able to have such a big part in both of those special moments. My 8th grade teacher reached out to me recently and wondered if I would be the Weston Wildcat willing to give a speech to their promoting class this year and I happily agreed. It is awesome because when I was in 8th grade, I gave the promotion speech in front of my peers and it was one of the best speeches I ever wrote. I took inspiration from “Life is a Highway” (Cars was my favorite Disney movie) to explain how we all take different exits in life but can return to the same highway to give us guidance and lead us forward. This time, I have no idea what I am going to write for either speech so I am still formulating my ideas. However, I am so appreciative of the opportunity and can’t wait to see what I can offer to so many of my peers as they prepare to navigate their next step in life.