ASB hosts online competition to connect students and boost school spirit

The phrase “Choose your quaranqueen” captions a short TikTok video created by junior Erica Lee and featuring juniors Emily Choi, Cynthia Zhang, Danielle Moon, Isabelle Lee, Tabitha Hulme, Jessie Zhou, Kaitlyn Yu, and Shannon Ji. The video, which highlights each featured person’s pros and cons, was submitted online for the dance commission’s TikTok contest in late March, and ended up winning second place. 

Between the COVID-19 shelter-in-place and the new structure of distance learning, it can be difficult for students to connect with one another and feel the sense of normalcy and structure that a regular school schedule and peer interactions bring at this time.

“Connection is so important now that we are ‘disconnected’ from each other,” assistant principal Matt Torrens said. “If we can’t see each other physically, digitally is another option.”

One such remedy, spearheaded by student leadership, has been various online quarantine spirit activities. For instance, the dance commission put together a contest via the social media app TikTok in late March.  The objective was for students to connect online using common interests and humor, according to head dance commissioner senior Lillian Wang.

Students submitted TikTok videos they created, ranging from funny skits and jokes to dances. Three winners were announced on March 31: junior Shahmun Jafri, doing the viral “Renegade” dance to the song Lottery by K Camp, the aforementioned group of junior girls and junior Juan Vintimilla, who joked about underclassmen trying to sneak off campus during lunch. 

“It’s a good opportunity for students to be involved in a fun activity while in quarantine and so students can see what people have been up to,” Wang said. “It’s nice that everyone in school is connected through this platform.”

Though there was less participation than in typical in-person events, spirit commission head Natalie Tarbox said that the main objective of the activities was simply to provide engaging events for students who chose to participate, not necessarily to garner high attendance.

Additionally, student leadership is planning a “Saratoga’s Got Talent” show that would combine all of the various talent shows that were planned to happen during this semester, allowing students to display their various skills and performances and see others while still maintaining social distancing. Likely beginning in late May, students will be able to submit video entries for the competition, and winners will be featured on the school’s spirit Instagram page.

“This time has been really difficult for everyone, so my hope is that people enjoy seeing familiar faces online and that they’re not alone in their experience in quarantine,” Wang said.

In addition to student leadership’s TikTok contest, the administration has held various spirit days, like PJ day or Nature day, to allow students to express creativity and interact with each other online.

“[These events] instill a sense of normalcy, or as close to normalcy as possible nowadays, and for that reason I believe they’ve been incredibly successful,” Tarbox said.