Room number 26 filled with students after school on Tuesday, Oct. 2. Most showed up to take part in the Forum – a few stayed only long enough to grab some of the pizza provided by Culinary Arts. In addition to the 30 or so kids seated in the circle were Principal Tim Hornig, assistant principals Jeanne Jones and Ryan Yee, and special guests Guen Butler, WASC self-study coordinator, and Sheila Durkin from the Foundation. After waiting for a few moments for people to settle down with their pizza, junior Cassidy Mayeda, the moderator for this particular Forum, jumped to her feet, ready to begin. The Forum would discuss a large number of topics, from golf carts to online orders for the Mosaic.
The first order of business was an update on the issue of physics teacher George Stimson’s golf cart. Stimson said that, with the administration cracking down on parking, a few of the administrators decided that the golf cart shouldn’t be allowed to be parked outside Stimson’s room. After several protests from students, the administration decided to re-evaluate the issue. The cart had worked as an “Open for Business” sign to let students know that Stimson was available for consultation. Hornig has discussed with Stimson the possibility of a neon sign to replace the cart. Also, seeing as the “comfortable seating” that Stimson’s room is famous for has been removed, the probability of the students making a new couch is also being discussed.
Then there was a quick information release about Homecoming Week. Monday, Oct. 15, will be Music Day, during which students can wear shirts advertising their favorite band. During lunch there will be a life-sized Jenga game. Tuesday, Oct. 16, will be Spy Day, with students dressing up as spies and ASB handing out moustaches. Students will have the opportunity to support their favorite college on Wednesday, Oct. 17. Then there will be Throwback Thursday on Oct. 18, with students wearing clothes from a time period of their choice. Friday, Oct. 19, will be Comic-con Day, with fiction characters coming to school as students, as well as the Flag Football game and the Carnival. Finally, Saturday, Oct. 20, is the Homecoming Dance, “Black Light White Out.”
The next topic that arose was the Homeroom Olympics. “The Homeroom Olympics are only as good as the teenagers behind it,” said Jones after asking the students if they would want to do the Olympics again. If students wanted to do the Olympics again, then she encouraged them to create a planning committee to come up with more events to entice more homerooms to join. There has been an increasing number of homerooms participating in the Olympics. The first year, only 27 of the 60 homerooms participated. The number increased significantly the second year with 40 homerooms joining in.
Butler, former SDA French and Spanish teacher, was next to step up onto the metaphorical soap box. Her order of business was simply to prepare the students for the upcoming Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) visit. Last year, SDA examined itself to see how fluidly everything was running. Both a written survey and an online survey were conducted to hear the voice of the students. The data that was collected and then compiled into an appendix report, which was then reviewed by the WASC visiting company.
From Oct. 22 to 24, this same visiting committee will be checking the facts at SDA with a little visit. Butler encouraged the students to be themselves and be SDA. “We are so proud of you,” added Jones. And when the visitors ask the students questions, Butler told the Forum to answer them truthfully. “Show them [the visitors] why everyone loves SDA so much,” said Butler when talking about the unique community of SDA.
The focus was drawn back to Mayeda as she asked the Forum what they wanted to focus on throughout the year. In other words, what was to be this year’s Forum theme? The answer became clear within seconds: overall school integration. In order to keep the spirit of SDA alive, the students need to feel united and part of the family. Ideas for this integration were tossed around – more name games during class, teams of multiple homerooms for Homeroom Olympics so that the homerooms could work together more than against each other, open seating in classrooms, and after school and lunch activities were among the suggestions.
As far as after school and lunch activities, some ideas that were brought up were chalk mandalas, barbeques, and movie nights. Celine Parker, junior, added that ASB, instead of thinking of new and creative events to encourage school unity, should find out what the students “find cool” and keep doing those events.
Junior Terrin Brin was up next. He proposed a new class that focused on global humanities. This class would introduce students to world cultures, religions, and day-to-day life in countries around the globe. Other students began discussing a combination class that would combine Social Justice, Film and Society, Modern World History, and Pop Culture. Administration members talked about the difficulties of creating a new class and getting sign-ups for said class.
Finally, students from the Business Management club in charge of the Mosaic continued the conversation by stating how their main goal was to create a place where students will want to go and stay on campus. On that note, junior Astrid Gonzalez said that the Mosaic needs to find a way to get student input. The Forum then gave them this input throughout the discussion. Issues that were discussed were increasing diversity in the menu and dealing with the lengthy lines. The idea of having an online pre-order system was brought up, and swiftly progressed to a pre-pay system where students could use their lunch accounts to pay for their food ahead of time, then pick it up during lunch.
Grabbing final pieces of pizza, the Forum then dispersed promptly at 4:30 with students’ minds buzzing with ideas and plans for the future.