ASB starts preparing early for new school year

“5…4…3…2…1!” In the school’s parking lot a crowd of roughly 450 people stood around a projector and counted down in time to the flickering numbers on the screen on Aug. 4. The atmosphere of suspense turned into surprise, and then amusement, when the Homecoming theme for the freshmen class, “A Bug’s Life,” was announced.

For the first time at SHS, Homecoming themes were revealed during the summer before school — several weeks earlier this year than previous years. The Pixar movie themes were announced early because the Homecoming week is a month earlier than usual. The reveal closed off the summer fundraiser that included a large food truck festival. The event was organized by ASB and Homecoming commission.

Over the summer, the eight members of the ASB — president Mitali Shanbhag, vice president Spring Ma, secretary Kyle Wang, treasurer Roland Shen, board commissioner Nathon Chin, head commissioner Eileen Toh, and clubs co-commissioners Ellicia Chiu and Kedar Abhyankar, along with new activities director Matt Torrens — have been planning ahead to ensure a school year with more events and fewer problems. They have organized school-wide events during the summer and the first few weeks of school.

“Whenever we ran into problems last year it was because of a shortage of time,” Shanbhag said. “We decided to get a head start this year to make sure everything ran smoothly and we didn’t get overwhelmed.”

One of the biggest changes that has helped ASB get a head start on organizing activities is the implementation of the mandatory leadership class, which now meets during fifth period. Despite causing controversy because it created some scheduling conflicts, the mandatory class has allowed for more efficient communication between ASB, class offices and commissions.

“The point of the leadership class is to have a time [when] there is face to face communication,” Shanbhag said. “I hope the class will make it easier to facilitate actual group working time and plan events and commissions.”

ASB’s planning has paid off already, as they have held a few spirit events and fundraisers over the summer. They first organized the Pokémon Go Social on July 18, an event where 80 students, administrators and parents trekked from the school to Saratoga downtown while playing the popular mobile game.

Those who came enjoyed catching pokémon with friends they may not have seen during the vacation months.

“It was really cool for ASB to put together an event for all the students playing Pokémon Go, especially over the summer,” sophomore Judy Yang said. “I had a lot of fun, too.”

In late July, ASB and the Homecoming commission organized the food truck festival. The senior class booked a churro stand, the junior class booked Kona Ice, the sophomore class booked Madera’s Taqueria and sold pizza and pearl milk tea, and ASB sold gyro from Yiassoo’s Greek Restaurant for the freshman.

Senior class vice president Jessy Liu thinks that ASB’s idea of having a food truck festival was “amazing.”

“Not only does it benefit the classes in terms of Homecoming, but it also benefits them monetarily,” Liu said. “It also is a platform for new freshmen to come and see what the school’s about. I think that making this an annual event would be really great for students to come together and have some fun.”

The dance commission and the ASB also coordinated a Back to School Dance on Aug. 19, the Friday of the first week of school. Two hundred and sixty-six students, 46 more people than the targeted number, attended the dance. The sports-themed dance was held in the quad and included refreshments and mini-games tables.

“Dance commission started planning as soon as possible because it was coming up so soon,” head dance commissioner junior Mervi Tan said.

Senior class representative Sydnie Vo thought the dance was a great way to help the freshmen transition into high school, as well as a fun start to the school year.

“I thought the dance was a really big success, and we were able to get everybody to come together early in the school year,” said Vo.