While some fall activities have been able to go on this year with nothing more than a few small changes for mitigation, others have had to do quite a bit of adapting in search of a whole new approach. 

Student Council has done just that: switching up their whole way of doing things this year, straying from traditions, and bringing in some new ideas.

“It’s been pretty difficult to figure out what to do right now,” StuCo president and senior Lauren Mehnert said. “We’ve had to get creative with bringing the school together so [we did] virtual spirit week. That’s the first thing we kind of tried to implement to bring the school together in a way.”

During virtual spirit week, students were given a small virtual challenge each day, like bringing their favorite stuffed animal with them to Zoom class. Getting back into the building is opening up new doors for more activities to be held and getting more students involved in activities. StuCo is also finding ways to show West to freshman.

“Student Council is working on a virtual activity fair since we started school late and we didn’t get a chance to advertise all the different clubs especially for freshman and sophomores,” sponsor Amber Hutchinson said. 

They are planning on adding to their team by offering applications to freshmen. For now, individual councils and big council meetings have switched to every other week over Zoom, while they work on separate projects.

“We are getting ready to hold a blood drive in November,” Hutchinson said. “There will be different guidelines for that, so we are working on how that can fit with the current model that we are in.”

Along with these new, adapted plans, the year had not come without its many disappointments. 

“We really wanted to do homecoming,” Mehnert said. “That was a big let down. We tried many different approaches like doing it outside, doing it in smaller groups.”

Since homecoming is the big event of the fall semester for many students, Student Council will have to mourn the loss of planning the yearly event.

“We have our spirit weeks, buff puff, powder puff, the dance, the football, the royalty–all got canceled which was hard to deal with,” Hutchinson said.

Besides the loss of homecoming, Student Council is still facing challenges within their group.

“Zoom meetings for Student Council don’t really work,” Mehnert said. “They have been quite challenging with thirty people in a zoom meeting and going over everything.”

The social aspect of being on Student Council has also been lost, as they are only meeting others in the group over Zoom so far.

“Usually Student Council is very bonded together,” Mehnert said. “We [usually] really know each other really well and so it’s been kind of hard for me to not really know who I’m leading. I’ve been doing my best to get to know everyone, and everyone else has too.”

With the many losses faced due to the circumstances of COVID, they are still hoping to encourage the student body this year in whatever may come up.

“We are still trying to leave an impact on the school,” Hutchinson said. “We are still trying to do everything even if it may not reach all of the student body, but still trying to leave that legacy or impact for those students.”

Things are certainly going to be quite different this year in terms of what Student Council can do regularly, but adapting has been all part of their process.

“I am proud of our motivation,” Hutchinson said. “We see things getting done. I feel like they’re using their resources, working hard. I like their attitude most.”

Many goals have been set by the group, in hopes of being able to get involved and play a major role in the school again.

“My biggest goal before Corona and now is just to implement things to carry on at West that give students a voice and an opportunity to be heard,” Mehnert said. “That’s truly what Student Council is all about.”