Story by Sarah Kochanek, Staff Writer
Why did the number of displays at Exhibition Day this year seem to decrease? Students were able to express their opinions and ideas about subjects such as this during one of the last forum meetings of the year–held on Thursday, May 26.
Forum meetings are run throughout the school year, consisting of ideas brought in by SDA students. Students attend to share their creative ability and their ideas to improve events at SDA. Social science teacher Kerry Koda and physics teacher George Stimson organize these gatherings in Stimson’s classroom, but various students lead the get-togethers.
Thursday’s meeting was mainly focused on reviewing Exhibition Day–what worked, and what didn’t.
One of the issues talked about was the apparent decrease in the number of exhibitions this year. A few upperclassmen believe it’s due to the fact that most freshmen don’t know what Exhibition Day is until it happens. This usually prevents them from signing up for a booth or demonstration, making it so they observe the exhibits rather than participate.
“It’s really up to the student body; we need them to step up [in order to get more exhibits.] But we also need students to observe displays; it makes it more meaningful to the spectators if they can participate in activities,” said Rod Keillor, ASB teacher.
Keillor also said that on the Exhibition Day last year, ASB put every exhibit into the pamphlet separately. This year, there was more of a generalized feel in the papers. This made it seem as though there were less displays.
“There were also fewer groups that stayed out during all four exhibition periods this year,” said Keillor.
A suggested solution to this problem was making Exhibition Day a main point brought up at freshmen orientation by link crew leaders. This would enable the incoming class a chance to think about whether they’d like to be involved prior to the rush of signing up that comes in April.
The forum is a place where students can voice their ideas without fear of reprimand. As Stimson said, “[The forum is about] making the school ‘your school,’ ‘my school,’ and ‘the administration’s school.’”