By Catherine Fung
While walking on the MHS campus recently, I noticed remnants of banners and the fading paint trail near the stairs of the L Building from when ASB had brightly painted the floors to welcome students back to school. As a student who used to feel the bubbling rush of excitement from MHS’s Spirit Week, pep rallies, and dances, this year is definitely not the same with the virtual ASB activities. With the transition to online learning, it is much more difficult to keep students engaged and boost their morale through online activities.
Last fall, ASB hosted events such as the homecoming dance, homecoming courts, and duct tape wars. Among other events, ASB also hosted a fundraiser, in which students paid to pie ASB officers in the face. I thought this event was a clever idea as it raised money for ASB and also brought many smiles to students’ faces. Furthermore, it made the atmosphere on campus more lively. This year, the class of 2021 sold spooky baskets to raise money.
ASB’s spooky baskets were Halloween-themed baskets that included a themed basket, chips, Capri Sun, a variety of candies, personalized photos, and a song code that would play once the recipient scanned it on Spotify—all for the price of ten dollars. After purchasing a basket, students had the chance to either get it delivered to their house or a friend’s. If students were able to go to school in person, the exchange of spooky baskets would be a common festivity. This Halloween was definitely different for students. The majority of students were not able to meet with friends to celebrate or participate in the best part of Halloween— trick-or-treating. With the current COVID-19 limitations, the Class of 2021’s spooky baskets were a brilliant idea. Not only did it boost morale by allowing students to regain some sense of normalcy, but it also brought aspects of Halloween back to students. Although trick-or-treating might not have been a possibility this year, students were still able to find a cure for their sweet tooths with ASB spooky baskets.
During the month of October, ASB also hosted a Pictionary event on the website Skribbl.io for students over Zoom. This event was divided into two subevents: the Freshmen versus the Sophomores and the Juniors versus the Seniors. A total of ten juniors and seniors attended this event, with most of the participants being ASB members (which typically occurs when there is low attendance at events). This event was quite unsuccessful and many difficulties came with hosting the game, including network and internet issues. Since Pictionary is not very popular among students, next time ASB could increase participation by including more popular games such as “Among Us” or perhaps a survival minigame on “Minecraft.”
ASB also hosted a Halloween art contest. Students had the option to compete in four different categories: drawing/painting, real-life pumpkin carving, digital or traditional pumpkin drawing/painting, and creating a Halloween costume. There were winners for each category of the art contest, and each winner had the opportunity to earn their respective class 50 spirit points, giving students the opportunity to win up to 200 spirit points for their class.
These creative ideas helped bring traditionalHalloween Spirit Week festivities to an online format. It was also a great way to encourage students to display their creative sides, as many students have been honing their art skills over the past eight months of staying at home.
I applaud ASB for their admirable efforts to increase school spirit and also encourage MHS students to stay involved in school events. To increase event participation, ASB could entice students by using a raffle system. Every time a student attends an event, they would earn a ticket that could be used in drawings to win items such as MHS gear and gift cards along with spirit points.
