By Rachel Wu
Junior-Senior Prom is canceled because all venues have canceled reservations throughJune, Principal Francis Rojas stated in an email. Trojan Olympics (TO) has been postponed to an unknown date due to the shelter-in-place order, Rojas continued.
This is a constantly changing situation, Activities Director Jerell Maneja said in an email. Trojan Olympics will likely still happen this calendar year, even if other means of presentation are used, such as live-stream events, Maneja continued. He wants to ensure that the hard work the students and class advisors exhibited throughout February and March is not wasted, Maneja explained.
“For prom, I am working with all our vendors to be able to still maintain our relations with them without hurting the Associated Student Body (ASB) organization financially,” Maneja explained in an email. “Solutions could include carrying any payment of services into the following school year. Ultimately, it is not the most ideal situation, but we will do anything we can to protect our community.”
ASB is rolling out the MHS Activities Online program, where many technology tools will be used to continue the growth of the Trojan spirit and embrace the students who make MHS special, Maneja said in an email. The primary method of delivering these events will be through e-mail and the ASB Instagram account, @mhstrojans, Maneja added Some of the activities include Flipgrid vlogs, Instagram games and contests, a virtual spirit week for spirit points, hobby videos featuring the student body, a schoolwide Kahoot, and more, Maneja explained. Students and faculty should look out for any e-mails sent by him to keep up with all of these events, Maneja said.
“All decisions regarding our largest events are made in collaboration with numerous stakeholders. In regards to Trojan Olympics and related events, like the campus decoration, I consulted with the entire administrative team (who works in conjunction with the Board and Superintendant Jordan), along with the ASB student officers and the MHS School Culture and Climate Committee,” Maneja said in an email. “In situations like these, it is important for me to work collaboratively with my team, and the decision will undoubtedly affect numerous individuals.”
The safety of our community will be the number one priority, Maneja noted in an email. When the discussion began, the order from the county at the time was to be mindful of large gatherings and to allow extra distance between individuals, so the discussion was centered around having an outdoor event to prevent a large number of individuals from sitting shoulder-to-shoulder indoors, Maneja added. However, the situation quickly evolved for the worse, and the requirements from the county became more stringent, so the discussion shifted to moving the events later into the year instead, Maneja continued.
“I understand the reasons for all the event cancelations, and I’m glad the schools following government guidelines. But as a senior, it’s still kind of sad to see the end of my high school days play out like this,” Senior Christine Ma said. “There’s a lot of friends that I wish I had more time to spend with, whether it be in class or at prom and TO, but it looks like that just won’t be the case.”
Some underclassmen, however, have different reactions to the event postponements and cancellations. All the event cancellations do not matter much to her because she did not intend on attending them anyway, Sophomore Muskaan Mahajan said. However, the clubs she participates in will have online elections, which are annoying since she will be unable to speak to people face-to-face, Mahajan explained. In addition, with school being canceled, nobody is really interested in having club meetings, which is disappointing since some of the clubs she is in have discussions during lunch, Mahajan added.