Leadership preparing for array of changes

This year Aragon Leadership certainly is stepping up its game. The group which plans student body activities such as rallies, spirit weeks, dances, and other events is planning an activity-filled spring for Aragon. For the first time in two years, Leadership is hosting five dances. And while there are voices of discontent among the student body, Leadership is looking at an array of changes which are sure to excite the student body. From internal changes, such as the rewriting of the constitution, to external changes, such as implementing a new sound system in center court, this year’s Aragon leadership has certainly aimed high at setting a new standard for school spirit.

This year, Leadership plans to take on the rewriting of the “Leadership Constitution”. Leadership teacher Catherine Williamson says, “The last constitution which was written in 1988 was so outdated that when I came to Aragon, the leadership class wasn’t even using it anymore.” Williamson explains that the amendment ratified last year, which required class presidents to be in the leadership class, was important in consolidating each of the student leaders. By doing this, Leadership expects to be more organized and more productive.

With this new organized structure, this year’s Leadership class aims to move on headstrong in changing the way Leadership affects students. Student Body President Jesvin Chandy explains, “In the past we did things according to tradition. Same people, same events… This year we aim to be different, be creative.” This mentality has been clearly seen during the homecoming rally, where notable changes excited returning students. Junior Chris Wallace comments, “I really enjoyed this year’s homecoming rally because of the teacher race. The ‘dance off’ between the Knight and the Don were pretty entertaining.” Still, students like Freshmen Arthur Zhu comment that they would enjoy the rallies more if “there was more student participation.” Freshmen Brandon Yan wishes for more rallies, saying, “We barely ever have rallies during lunch.”

That is one wish which is assuredly coming true. Chandy says that once construction on the swimming pool ends, lunchtime rallies will take place much more often. A new sound system which has been implemented into center court for rallies is another new addition to look forward to.

Regardless, some students think there should be more publicity. Junior Zac Cordoni reasons, “I think word should be spread better. It seems like all the leadership students and students participating in the rallies know about them, but I don’t think a lot of students do.”

Publicity seems to be a common problem this year. Yan notes, “In my class we don’t even listen to the 5th period announcements. There was one time I came to school on a Monday not even remembering it was a spirit week.”

Many students actually have noticed that spirit weeks this year have been extremely hit-or-miss. Some days many students participate, some days very few do. Junior Sophia Wienbar says, “I participate in the ones that are easy like PJ day. But not a lot of people own clothes that are necessary for a certain day. If the spirit days were more accessible to a larger portion of the student population, more people would participate.” Sophomore Alexis Harrington agrees, “It should be to make life easier or just like a shirt you can throw on.”

Chandy acknowledges these concerns but also expresses the difficulties in choosing themes for spirit weeks. He says, “We try to make it easy to dress, but we also want it to be noticeable.” Other factors in designing spirit weeks include administrative regulations. For example what was originally scheduled as “rave day” during the senior spirit week got changed to “neon day” due to administrative concerns.

Indeed, regulations do affect Leadership activities which touch the whole student body. The music for rallies and games must be chosen with caution and so forth. Certain words like “beat” are to be omitted from posters. Even the Homecoming t-shirt for this year was altered due to concerns by CCS. This year the homecoming t-shirts featured football helmets from both the Aragon and Hillsdale teams. CCS had a concern, however, because there were cracks drawn into the Hillsdale helmet. They wanted these cracks removed because of worry due to the large amount of football related head injuries which have occurred as of late. While Williamson does admit that to some students the regulations can be “discouraging”, the Leadership class always tries to find creative alternatives.