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Despite distance learning due to COVID-19, leadership students continue to plan various virtual events. Under normal circumstances, leadership students would be working on specific projects depending on the time of year, and they would work together to accomplish group tasks and create posters to advertise their events.

Even with limited time and not being able to meet in person, leadership students have still been able to organize and provide events for the student body.

“To plan school events, leadership students have had to think of strategies to maximize attendance but in an online setting,” Freshman officer Chloe Nguyen said. “We’ve worked together to create events based on our peers’ interests, and have worked to find ways to make previous in-person events just as enjoyable online.”

In order to adapt to the distance learning format, some Leadership roles and responsibilities were changed.

“We’ve made some positions do other jobs. We felt as if some positions couldn’t do much, so we changed the job descriptions,” Nguyen said. “Now some of us do more work, or work with other positions.”

Roles such as the store clerk, who are not able to fulfil their traditional duties due to distance learning, are now in charge of SCHS clubs. If a position is unable to complete their normal tasks, they provide assistance and collaborate with other roles to evenly distribute the workload.

To maintain communication and remain productive and organized, the class has utilized tools such as Trello and Google Classroom, according to Senior Class President Bea Agustin. In addition to the event-based duties, a big part of the leadership class is bonding and creating a safe environment. Bonding activities include games, such as Jamboard activities, ice breakers and Among Us.

“A big aspect of Leadership is the family type of dynamic that would naturally build and grow,” Agustin said. “Continuing these bondings into distance learning is just a way for us to break the seriousness of Leadership and to continue to build that family aspect by getting to know each other more and having fun together.”

Continuing to create a safe, comfortable and productive environment through online learning can be difficult, but leadership students have used new and old ways to navigate around the issues. Leadership has been leading workshops in class centered around pandemic-related stress and how to overcome and manage it. Students are given time to reflect and come up with ways they can obtain stronger mentalities.

“It’s always a great time for myself and others to reflect on what skills we have and to see what we can still improve on,” senior store clerk Meghan Van said. “The class is always great in making the workshops super exciting and fun, and it almost never feels like actual work.”

The coronavirus has had an effect on many people and the school year, but some leadership students feel they continue to stay strong and complete their duties to the best of their ability.

“I’m really proud of the efforts that everyone is still putting in, and it’s a really hard time for everyone, ” Agustin said. “I’m really proud of Leadership because they definitely really push through for other people and consider other voices, and we definitely need that during this time.”