Remote learning has caused a shift in all of our lifestyles. There’s no longer a concept of a “normal” or daily routine that we can follow by anymore. With daily school schedules and each class period being nonexistent, our learning experience has gone through some major changes. Despite this, our school organization, the S.O Cabinet, is doing whatever they can to help us to adjust and maintain a sense of normalcy. Not only have they been initiating fun game nights, they also scheduled virtual spirit weeks, talent shows, and introduced new events during quarantine.  

As a result of this new system, the S.O Cabinet has faced certain challenges. One of the greatest challenges they have faced is “thinking of creative ways that we can increase school spirit virtually,” says Skye Lam ’22. Given the different atmosphere from physically being at school, S.O has had to brainstorm about the variety of possibilities to keep students engaged. Another member of S.O, Diana Campbell ’22 mentions how a lot of their events are based off of student interaction, which means that students have to be physically able to participate. “It’s also difficult to bring students together over the internet, not like it would be when we are all already at school anyways.” Because school spirit has been low due to remote learning, the S.O cabinet has had to come up with methods to double the spirit amongst students. 

Despite these challenges, Cabinet has made several adjustments by hosting events virtually. The school talent show, an annual event enjoyed by many, is an example of an event that will be held online. “It’s really unfortunate that we won’t be able to experience certain events to the full extent, which is why we’re working on a virtual talent show! Although not the complete same experience, I have no doubt that it will be amazing,” said Ahona Rana ’22.

It is inspiring to see these Cabinet members remaining optimistic and passionate about the events that they are hosting even though the involvement will not be the same. Cabinet has also become more active on social media in order to spread the word about these school-wide events, to compensate for the fact that they can no longer rely on posters and morning announcements. Something really unique that the S.O has been doing is hosting weekly virtual game nights. From iMessage Games to Kahoot, there is a new activity every week that keeps students involved and allows them to enjoy their time during remote learning. Through the game nights, students can still interact with each other, “which is something that we might not have discovered if we weren’t in quarantine, so Cabinet tries to find the silver lining in our situation,” said Campbell. 

Obviously there are some adjustments that had to be made to plan these events. Before remote learning, cabinet would meet every day during 9th period in order to generate ideas and to plan events. However, now they now resort to having a video call meeting weekly. They also implemented google forms and social media a lot more into their event planning to get an idea of what students want. Despite not being able to meet physically, the event planning process has not changed much, and the members of S.O are able to work together and contribute ideas to further ease our time at home.  “I feel that we are now more open to inspiration than ever,” said Rana.

“While it is disappointing that some events cannot take place, we are trying to continue other traditions as well as starting new initiatives,” Avery Look ’21 said. Cabinet is a dedicated student organization that makes sure that we are still having fun and maintaining school spirit during these difficult times of the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite certain challenges that have definitely arisen, they have discovered ways to overcome them. The members of S.O Cabinet have been doing a superb job during this time of remote learning to keep us engaged, and it’s important to recognize their efforts and hard work!

“I feel that we are now more open to inspiration than ever,” said Rana.