ASB report 09-29-2020
Jenna Skavdahl
Freshman Representative
02 October 2020
This year as a Freshman representative, I have been able to help my other freshman classmates start our class Instagram account. It was really fun to see how we could use social media to help our grade. As a freshman class, we did a shout-out of two students and encouraged them to "pass it on", one of the students did. We got very good feedback from the two students. I also assisted in designing, ordering, and organizing our class t-shirts. We had a small mishap with the mediums, but it has been handled and being taken care of. I have been able to help our whole leadership class by helping with ideas for FallFest, events, and other happenings in leadership. For FallFest, the freshman have decided on a, "sweater weather/ fall fashion" theme. We have created a google document about the supplies that we need to decorate the truck and door for our spirit week. We now know what to buy and budget for in the upcoming days. I have been present and on time to every zoom session, which helps class run more smoothly.
This year, many events have made me a more professional leader. By setting up a class Instagram account, I was able to learn how to manage social media when many people are watching. Plus, organizing the class t-shirt sales has made me use skills like, money management, working with other people to design something, and scheduling, for handing out t-shirts and knowing when to have everything done and set up.
On top of events, our class book study and job research has made me a more thoughtful, professional person. By reading Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and its all Small Stuff, I have been able to think more deeply about my choices, thoughts, and actions. Our Job research project has allowed me to really think about my future, and what I wish to achieve in my life. If I don't start setting goals and figuring out how I want to live my life, I won't be very driven or motivated to do anything. Thinking more about myself and life makes me more professional, and developed as a person and leader.
One thing that I am worried about this year is that I will not be able to get involved in the class as much as I hope. For some reason, being online at school is making it very hard for me to connect and be comfortable in a class. I am trying to talk more, and be as present as I can be.
I am very happy that our team of freshman officers works well together. As a team, I think that we work well together and whenever there is a problem or disagreement, we work through it and get what we need to, done. We have bonded quite a bit on out of school zoom calls, and by playing games online together.
I changed the world by figuring out who I want to be. I haven't yet had the chance to really make a difference, but I have tried to make small changes. I have become more aware of social justice issues, and formed opinions about what I think is right. I have been able to respectfully share my opinions, while listening to and understanding other people's point of view. Going to peaceful, socially distanced protests, for social justice has been one way that I have made positive impact in my community. Now that I have more access to social media, I have been able to connect with people who want to make a change, and learned of better ways to help our society.
Freshman Representative
02 October 2020
This year as a Freshman representative, I have been able to help my other freshman classmates start our class Instagram account. It was really fun to see how we could use social media to help our grade. As a freshman class, we did a shout-out of two students and encouraged them to "pass it on", one of the students did. We got very good feedback from the two students. I also assisted in designing, ordering, and organizing our class t-shirts. We had a small mishap with the mediums, but it has been handled and being taken care of. I have been able to help our whole leadership class by helping with ideas for FallFest, events, and other happenings in leadership. For FallFest, the freshman have decided on a, "sweater weather/ fall fashion" theme. We have created a google document about the supplies that we need to decorate the truck and door for our spirit week. We now know what to buy and budget for in the upcoming days. I have been present and on time to every zoom session, which helps class run more smoothly.
This year, many events have made me a more professional leader. By setting up a class Instagram account, I was able to learn how to manage social media when many people are watching. Plus, organizing the class t-shirt sales has made me use skills like, money management, working with other people to design something, and scheduling, for handing out t-shirts and knowing when to have everything done and set up.
On top of events, our class book study and job research has made me a more thoughtful, professional person. By reading Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and its all Small Stuff, I have been able to think more deeply about my choices, thoughts, and actions. Our Job research project has allowed me to really think about my future, and what I wish to achieve in my life. If I don't start setting goals and figuring out how I want to live my life, I won't be very driven or motivated to do anything. Thinking more about myself and life makes me more professional, and developed as a person and leader.
One thing that I am worried about this year is that I will not be able to get involved in the class as much as I hope. For some reason, being online at school is making it very hard for me to connect and be comfortable in a class. I am trying to talk more, and be as present as I can be.
I am very happy that our team of freshman officers works well together. As a team, I think that we work well together and whenever there is a problem or disagreement, we work through it and get what we need to, done. We have bonded quite a bit on out of school zoom calls, and by playing games online together.
I changed the world by figuring out who I want to be. I haven't yet had the chance to really make a difference, but I have tried to make small changes. I have become more aware of social justice issues, and formed opinions about what I think is right. I have been able to respectfully share my opinions, while listening to and understanding other people's point of view. Going to peaceful, socially distanced protests, for social justice has been one way that I have made positive impact in my community. Now that I have more access to social media, I have been able to connect with people who want to make a change, and learned of better ways to help our society.
Jenna Skavdahl
Freshman Representative
01 December 2020
In the months of October and November, leadership has been slow, yet very productive. On October second, we had our first formal ASB meeting over zoom. I was the freshman to present for that meeting. I reported on behalf of the freshman class, and I spoke about what we had accomplished. Right into October, Leadership started planning for Fall Fest. Our first official task was the door decorating activity. Spencer Redula, Kylee Brown, Devin Fitzpatrick, and Katie Rhodes were the freshmen in charge of decorating the door. The final product turned out very well. The following week, we organized dress-up days and participated in them. I dressed up for every dress up day and submitted the pictures for the ASB of Ripon High School Instagram page. The final event of Fall Fest was the drive through and truck decorating. Payton Miller-Kay, Maddie Stewart, Jennaveve Albert, Ava Keast, Kylee Brown, and I were in charge of decorating the truck. I brought lights, pumpkins, scare crows, and a bale of hay(from Morty), to decorate the truck. I was on time, and I helped move the hay bale, set up the scarecrows, and set up the final design. While other students were driving through, I assisted in selling leftover class t-shirts and I helped clean up at the end of the event. I think that FallFest was a success! Following FallFest, the freshman participated in making the Gratitude Video. Freshmen were expected to write a letter to someone who they love and appreciate. The letter was talking about how much of an impact the specific person has made an impact on their life. We were each called in separately to read our letter to the person who we wrote to. The final video was very well done and posted on the Instagram and Facebook pages of the high school. The next big event freshmen assisted in organizing was the Dude Be Nice annual reveal. Leadership student all wrote notes to Mr. Perez, The Dude. We all showed up at the school in shifts to be there, and celebrate Mr. Perez. Finally, Freshman representatives, including myself attended a CASL conference and fundraised through snap raise to raise money to offset the cost of Core Camp.
Freshman Representative
01 December 2020
In the months of October and November, leadership has been slow, yet very productive. On October second, we had our first formal ASB meeting over zoom. I was the freshman to present for that meeting. I reported on behalf of the freshman class, and I spoke about what we had accomplished. Right into October, Leadership started planning for Fall Fest. Our first official task was the door decorating activity. Spencer Redula, Kylee Brown, Devin Fitzpatrick, and Katie Rhodes were the freshmen in charge of decorating the door. The final product turned out very well. The following week, we organized dress-up days and participated in them. I dressed up for every dress up day and submitted the pictures for the ASB of Ripon High School Instagram page. The final event of Fall Fest was the drive through and truck decorating. Payton Miller-Kay, Maddie Stewart, Jennaveve Albert, Ava Keast, Kylee Brown, and I were in charge of decorating the truck. I brought lights, pumpkins, scare crows, and a bale of hay(from Morty), to decorate the truck. I was on time, and I helped move the hay bale, set up the scarecrows, and set up the final design. While other students were driving through, I assisted in selling leftover class t-shirts and I helped clean up at the end of the event. I think that FallFest was a success! Following FallFest, the freshman participated in making the Gratitude Video. Freshmen were expected to write a letter to someone who they love and appreciate. The letter was talking about how much of an impact the specific person has made an impact on their life. We were each called in separately to read our letter to the person who we wrote to. The final video was very well done and posted on the Instagram and Facebook pages of the high school. The next big event freshmen assisted in organizing was the Dude Be Nice annual reveal. Leadership student all wrote notes to Mr. Perez, The Dude. We all showed up at the school in shifts to be there, and celebrate Mr. Perez. Finally, Freshman representatives, including myself attended a CASL conference and fundraised through snap raise to raise money to offset the cost of Core Camp.
Through October and November, I think I have expeirenced a lot of personal and professional growth. Freshmen attended a CASL conference for student leaders. In that zoom session, I was able to think about my values, and how I can focus on my emotions to make me the best possible student, leader, and human as possible. I think about what we discussed in the conference often. I also continued to work on my book study, reflecting on the lesson in each chapter has been helpful to think about how I handle interactions with people and stress. Learning about organizing events, finding personal values, and knowing how to appreciate emotions will help me become an efficient student and leader. The amount of growth I have expirenced recently with changes in situations has been tremendous, and I have learned to appreciate the fact that I am becoming a more respectful, self aware human.
My concerns have not really changed since the last formal ASB report. I am still worried about my participation and being comfortable voicing my ideas. I have also noticed that the freshman reps have grouped together. Kylee, Devin, and Spencer are in a "group" and Payton, Ava, and Katie are in a "group". This is totally fine, but it does make me wonder where I fit into the class. However, our group of freshman are still very close, and we enjoy having zooms together outside of school. I love our freshman and I am very grateful that we still work so well together.
There were so may positive parts of the last two months! I have made some great connections with many people in the class through leadership and cross country. For example, I have become closer and more comfortable around Laila Irogyen, Kate Villegas, and Lydia Waters. I have met new people and been able to see people in person because we are back at school. Maddie Stewart has also been very nice and has always started a conversation when we are together. Her happiness and smile has made others and me feel less awkward upon the return to campus. I also really enjoyed the CASL conference. Finally, I was able to make a story post to our class Instagram account. I am not the best person with technology, so to have my fellow freshman trust me to represent our class, I felt accomplished, and somewhat important.
Changing the world has always been one of my goals. Due to my recent professional and personal growth, I have been more open to taking opportunities to change the world and become more informed about pressing issues. I have recently attended zooms raising awareness about domestic violence/abuse, the environment, and knowing how to recognize our emotions. I followed the election closely in November to be aware about the fate of the country. One of the biggest ways I changed the world was by working with Dillan Saltsman and David Wang to tart a club at Ripon High. Our club recently became established and we have ideas for our first task and mission. Raising awareness and working to make the world a better place has always been one of my goals. So, once our plan was set into action, I have been more aware about my impact of the world and the people I have interactions with.
Jenna Skavdahl
Freshman Representative
15 March 2021
Being in person has been so great. Of course, because we are in person, leadership is a lot more productive and active in the school community! Within leadership, we have gone through the writing process of our resumes and cover letters for mock interviews that are coming up. We have also made clovers for every student in the school (writing nice notes/ words of encouragement). On March 17th, students in the leadership class hung all of the clovers up before school. We also wrote notes to soldiers for Valentine’s day for the school FFA. As for homecoming, this group of freshmen has been very busy with organizing, planning, and working on the theme. Our theme is a day at the cinema. The overall theme for the school is "Blast from the Past", events before COVID. For the past few weeks, I have been assisting the rest of the freshman representatives in organizing our poster, dance, and fashion show. We have almost everything planned out, and we are filming the fashion show on Saturday. I personally have helped in the ordering process for decorations, learning the dance, picking the music, and I have designed and created all of the social media posts that we are posting before events to inform the student body about the different events. For the actual decorating aspect of homecoming, I have signed up on the google form to decorate the back wall of the stage. In addition to all of the homecoming, leadership has been working very hard on supporting our student body in different ways. Every student in the leadership class was required to make a social media post/poster for a senior athlete that missed out on most of their sports season due to COVID. I made a poster for Kailee Tijero. It was very cool to see them all hung up and have the athletes be celebrated! In leadership, we also had smaller, but still very important projects. I wrote an article and submitted it to a student leadership magazine about balancing athletics and academics. Finally, Morty assigned a coloring book to help with becoming more reflective and mindful. The coloring book was a different letter for every letter of the alphabet. On top of the coloring, we had to write a word, then describe how that word defined our character. The last few months have been so exciting and so busy, it is hard to believe that almost three months have gone by since January!
For homecoming, however, we still have a lot to get done before the event is finalized. We are currently waiting for a package containing all of the decorations for our poster, cinema-themed. We ordered about 45 dollars worth of decorations, which we plan to decorate the stage for the dance and the poster for the spirit part of homecoming. In addition, the freshmen reps, including myself are finalizing the dance for the night rally and planning to film the fashion show candidates on Saturday, the 20th of March. If we stay on schedule, which we have set, we should be done and fully prepared for homecoming, which starts on the 26th.
So much in leadership has been so amazing. Of course, some things could be better. I have a concern with our dance for homecoming. I am a little bit worried about us getting the dance done on time. We have spent so much time picking a song, that it will be challenging to really master the dance in time for the night rally on the 30th. Despite my concerns, I think that everyone will be able to learn the dance well and be successful in the event.
On the professional side of leadership, I have grown and learned so much! Through the mock interview process, I have learned how to write a concise, yet effective cover letter to a professional employer. I have also learned how to write a powerful resume that will help me in the future in a professional setting. In leadership itself, I went through the process of interviewing for next year's class. I applied to be the Link Crew/ Renaissance commissioner assistant. I went through the interviewing process, filled out the application, and practiced for my interview on a Saturday morning. Going through both of these processes has been so helpful with creating a professional profile and learning how to conduct me in situations when professionalism is required. Finally, in Leadership, one of the biggest assignments that were assigned these last few months were the speeches. My classmates and I were required to give formal speeches on a topic of our choice. I chose to speak about the importance of why the United States should not drill into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I was practicing and revising my speech for many days, which taught me to practice and make my speech the best it could be. Public speaking is a very big part of being a professional leader, and this skill will stick with me throughout the years to come in school and the workplace.
The last few months in leadership have been so amazing! So many great things have come from attending class in-person. Being physically at school has helped me so much in both classes in general, as well as it has helped me make many new connections and friends. For example, during some time when we were planning homecoming, I get to talk a lot to Ava Keast, Katie Rhodes, Spencer Redula, and Kylee Brown. I have enjoyed talking to Devin Fitzpatrick and Spencer Redula about track, leadership, and other classes that we have together. Altogether, being in class, in person has been a very fantastic part of leadership. In addition, Kylee Brown has been such a big help in organizing homecoming. We have all been working hard, but with Kylee's new assumed position of Sophomore class president, she has been filling out many of the procedure and order forms to help the event run more smoothly. Finally, I really want to celebrate the whole group of freshman representatives. We have been working so well together to make this homecoming event possible. From the people choreographing the group dance, the people filming the fashion show, anyone ordering supplies, giving their opinions, and making social media posts, we have all been working hard and working together to create a great event for our class.
For the last six weeks, I have been on the Stockton Earth Day committee. I attend weekly meetings where I present ideas, research ways we can help the environment, and plan events for Earth Day in Stockton. Our goal is to host an event that inspires people to help the environment and get more involved in San Joaquin County's attempt to help the valley's environment. Not only am I on the committee, but I am also working with Dillan Saltsman to present at this event on behalf of the whole Youth for Environmental Advocacy Network! I have been very fortunate to have this opportunity and I have loved being able to make a difference in our community.
Freshman Representative
15 March 2021
Being in person has been so great. Of course, because we are in person, leadership is a lot more productive and active in the school community! Within leadership, we have gone through the writing process of our resumes and cover letters for mock interviews that are coming up. We have also made clovers for every student in the school (writing nice notes/ words of encouragement). On March 17th, students in the leadership class hung all of the clovers up before school. We also wrote notes to soldiers for Valentine’s day for the school FFA. As for homecoming, this group of freshmen has been very busy with organizing, planning, and working on the theme. Our theme is a day at the cinema. The overall theme for the school is "Blast from the Past", events before COVID. For the past few weeks, I have been assisting the rest of the freshman representatives in organizing our poster, dance, and fashion show. We have almost everything planned out, and we are filming the fashion show on Saturday. I personally have helped in the ordering process for decorations, learning the dance, picking the music, and I have designed and created all of the social media posts that we are posting before events to inform the student body about the different events. For the actual decorating aspect of homecoming, I have signed up on the google form to decorate the back wall of the stage. In addition to all of the homecoming, leadership has been working very hard on supporting our student body in different ways. Every student in the leadership class was required to make a social media post/poster for a senior athlete that missed out on most of their sports season due to COVID. I made a poster for Kailee Tijero. It was very cool to see them all hung up and have the athletes be celebrated! In leadership, we also had smaller, but still very important projects. I wrote an article and submitted it to a student leadership magazine about balancing athletics and academics. Finally, Morty assigned a coloring book to help with becoming more reflective and mindful. The coloring book was a different letter for every letter of the alphabet. On top of the coloring, we had to write a word, then describe how that word defined our character. The last few months have been so exciting and so busy, it is hard to believe that almost three months have gone by since January!
For homecoming, however, we still have a lot to get done before the event is finalized. We are currently waiting for a package containing all of the decorations for our poster, cinema-themed. We ordered about 45 dollars worth of decorations, which we plan to decorate the stage for the dance and the poster for the spirit part of homecoming. In addition, the freshmen reps, including myself are finalizing the dance for the night rally and planning to film the fashion show candidates on Saturday, the 20th of March. If we stay on schedule, which we have set, we should be done and fully prepared for homecoming, which starts on the 26th.
So much in leadership has been so amazing. Of course, some things could be better. I have a concern with our dance for homecoming. I am a little bit worried about us getting the dance done on time. We have spent so much time picking a song, that it will be challenging to really master the dance in time for the night rally on the 30th. Despite my concerns, I think that everyone will be able to learn the dance well and be successful in the event.
On the professional side of leadership, I have grown and learned so much! Through the mock interview process, I have learned how to write a concise, yet effective cover letter to a professional employer. I have also learned how to write a powerful resume that will help me in the future in a professional setting. In leadership itself, I went through the process of interviewing for next year's class. I applied to be the Link Crew/ Renaissance commissioner assistant. I went through the interviewing process, filled out the application, and practiced for my interview on a Saturday morning. Going through both of these processes has been so helpful with creating a professional profile and learning how to conduct me in situations when professionalism is required. Finally, in Leadership, one of the biggest assignments that were assigned these last few months were the speeches. My classmates and I were required to give formal speeches on a topic of our choice. I chose to speak about the importance of why the United States should not drill into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I was practicing and revising my speech for many days, which taught me to practice and make my speech the best it could be. Public speaking is a very big part of being a professional leader, and this skill will stick with me throughout the years to come in school and the workplace.
The last few months in leadership have been so amazing! So many great things have come from attending class in-person. Being physically at school has helped me so much in both classes in general, as well as it has helped me make many new connections and friends. For example, during some time when we were planning homecoming, I get to talk a lot to Ava Keast, Katie Rhodes, Spencer Redula, and Kylee Brown. I have enjoyed talking to Devin Fitzpatrick and Spencer Redula about track, leadership, and other classes that we have together. Altogether, being in class, in person has been a very fantastic part of leadership. In addition, Kylee Brown has been such a big help in organizing homecoming. We have all been working hard, but with Kylee's new assumed position of Sophomore class president, she has been filling out many of the procedure and order forms to help the event run more smoothly. Finally, I really want to celebrate the whole group of freshman representatives. We have been working so well together to make this homecoming event possible. From the people choreographing the group dance, the people filming the fashion show, anyone ordering supplies, giving their opinions, and making social media posts, we have all been working hard and working together to create a great event for our class.
For the last six weeks, I have been on the Stockton Earth Day committee. I attend weekly meetings where I present ideas, research ways we can help the environment, and plan events for Earth Day in Stockton. Our goal is to host an event that inspires people to help the environment and get more involved in San Joaquin County's attempt to help the valley's environment. Not only am I on the committee, but I am also working with Dillan Saltsman to present at this event on behalf of the whole Youth for Environmental Advocacy Network! I have been very fortunate to have this opportunity and I have loved being able to make a difference in our community.