After a long, busy week, students of all grades excitedly await the SCHS Wheel of Talent, constantly refreshing the SCHS Tech Reps YouTube channel. While not in the presence of their classmates, students find a sense of community and belonging while watching the showcase of their school’s talent.

As the 2020-2021 school year proceeds virtually, SCHS’s leadership class hosted its Wheel of Talent on Friday, Feb. 26 to help foster a sense of school spirit and togetherness despite virtual barriers. 

“We really want to make sure, especially during this time, we want to keep everyone as spirited and as part of a community as we can,” senior Spirit Representative Gabe Bumanlag said.

Related Stories

OPINION: The distance learning schedule may lead to unhealthy and unsafe eating habits

OPINION: The number of mandatory community service hours needed to graduate should be increased

Ad Astra Per Aspera: SCHS' first TEDxSantaClaraHS event aims to provide solidarity and amplify voices of the Bruin community

SCHS' FCCLA club creates "Sincerely, FCCLA" service event to help senior citizens

The virtual talent show, themed “Wheel of Fortune,” was uploaded on the SCHS Tech Reps YouTube channel. The event was set up where ASB Spirit Commissioners, seniors Karei Higgs and Jema Mae Ranoy, individually spun a virtual wheel that listed the names of performances featured in the event. Sophomore Spirit Representative Lira Yagi, freshman Secretary/Treasurer Maleeha Lateef, and junior Jariel Torio acted as contestants playing on “Wheel of Fortune” by guessing the performers’ names using the hints presented. Both Higgs and Ranoy introduced each performance after confirming the contestants’ guesses.

The performances included singing and dancing by numerous members of the SCHS community. Freshman Hibah Saleem enjoyed the event and appreciated the virtual aspects of it.

“I thought everyone was really talented,” Saleem said. “Some of the positive aspects of having things done virtually is that you can hear and see everything better.”

Freshman performer Sean Tsui agrees. He enjoyed the showcase of talent and appreciated the opportunity to learn more about his peers. 

“I think that having virtual events during this time helps people with getting to enjoy school,” Tsui said. “As a freshman, it was nice to see what other people’s talents and passions were.”

According to Event Coordinator, sophomore Heidi Hu, numerous members of ASB worked hard to produce and promote the event into making it one for all students to enjoy. 

“Our Creative Media team creates amazing promotional flyers, Spirit and Entertainment come(s) up with such creative scripts, and the Tech Representatives are awesome at putting together the event videos that can be found on their channel,” Hu said. “The rest of the leadership class also contributes a lot of effort to these events, and it is really fulfilling to see our work and ideas come together to elevate the sense of unity at our school.”

According to Creative Media representative junior Becca Morse, the leadership class hopes to uplift the student body by hosting virtual events that were previously enjoyed in-person. 

“The leadership class has been doing a lot of work coming up with ideas on how to hold events online and on how to keep people interested and participating,” Morse said. “This year has been rough on everyone and many people aren’t concerned with school events, so a lot of our work is directed at bringing back the hype and excitement that many people enjoyed before in person.”

Hu agrees and hopes these events can uplift and bring a sense of school spirit that can be lost due to distance learning.

“I would say that all of the events that the leadership class decides to execute have a common goal, which is to engage students and make them feel more excited about coming to school,” Hu said. “Speaking more specifically about how we hope to impact students, through these events, we would like to instill school spirit into students, create an exciting and welcoming atmosphere for students, and have students feel comfortable with their peers.” 

Although virtual events can be different from what students are typically used to, Bumanlag appreciates the outcome and support of the events from the community.

“I really enjoy watching the outcome and hearing people’s feedback on it afterward,” Bumanlag said. “It is really rewarding and great to see classmates enjoying what we work hard on.”