Outreach commission works to enrich school environment

Plastered on the walls around campus during Red Ribbon week in late September were colorful posters that showed days of the week and the theme for each such as “Sock it to drugs” on Monday and “Team up against drugs” on Thursday. Students were encouraged to dress according to each theme to show support for the anti-drug cause.

The architect of this event, the outreach commission, is a branch of the Leadership class that specializes in organizing events around the school like Red Ribbon Week, new student tours and Speak Up for Change in January.

“Outreach is about bringing awareness to many topics we all think about but don't necessarily discuss on a daily basis,” senior Equity commissioner Iman Laique said. “It’s healthy to keep such topics in mind.”

The large-scale events are so complex that a single person could not pull them off. Thus, the seven members of the commision work together toward a common goal. Every member has a specialized role to make sure all parts of each project are completed.

Junior Rohan Rao is the head outreach commissioner. Working with him are senior Usman Khan, the community service coordinator; sophomore Aliza Zaman, the new student commissioner; junior Tarun Krishnan, the elections manager; Laique, the Equity commissioner and junior Sally Kim and sophomore Katie Chen, the outreach commission representatives.

Although they have assigned roles, the members occasionally go beyond them. Chen said that most of the time, they prefer to work together on projects. Outreach is spread thin over their many events, and collaborating helps make it easier.

“Working as a collective gives us a greater sense of accomplishment,” Laique said. “We work better together and are able to split up work and pitch new ideas in the process.”

The group’s most challenging and prominent event is Speak Up for Change.

“We ask students and teachers to volunteer to share a story based on our theme,” Chen said. “It’s more impactful if your peers are sharing a story than if we get a random speaker to come and tell our whole school something.”

The commission has made Speak Up for Change more intimate each year in an attempt to improve the school’s culture. Currently, they are finalizing their theme and working on an outline for the week. Every year, outreach tries to go beyond what they have done in the past: they improve previously established events like Speak Up for Change by changing the structure and revising the activities in the assembly to better convey their theme.

“They’re actually taking on a little bit more this year,” Leadership teacher Matthew Torrens said. “They do a wide variety of activities, so they don’t really specialize in one particular thing. The outreach commission does one thing a year, and then they move on to the next thing that’s totally different.”

In addition to school awareness events, outreach also organizes drives throughout the year, such as the Blood Drive in March. Another event that is popular with students is the Therapeutic Pets event, in which therapy dogs are brought in from the Furry Friends Rescue organization after AP testing to help students relax and de-stress.

Outreach events extend outside campus as well. Members are reaching out and working with the Saratoga senior center for an activity, that is not yet been finalized, for the second semester of the school year. The commission has also worked with Community Based Instruction (CBI) students to put on a Halloween dance, among many other ongoing projects.

“I love being community involved and working towards improving our environment because ultimately it’s our job to do so,” Laique said. “It is honestly so fulfilling to be in the position I am now and encourage others to really evaluate how they treat others and why by asking the bigger questions.”