It’s the time of year where class officers have decided who will be accepted into senior planning. “Senior planning is a class period dedicated to class planning. If you’re in senior planning, you’ve not only shown us your leadership skills, but it’s also a fun class that we use to plan class events and have a good time. People who have dedicated themselves to class planning also want to see their work paid off,” junior class president Max Choi said.

To get into senior planning, one must show hard work and dedication. “In order to get into senior planning, you had to be an active member in class planning throughout the years. Additionally, you had to have a good teacher recommendation to prove the type of student one is,”  junior vice president Hope Safai said.

Covid had a big impact on the selection process.  “Especially since COVID, we sometimes are placed with difficult circumstances that are hard to plan events around, but general optimism helps a lot. Lastly, the amount of contribution can be found on our credit system. As class officers, we often look at the credit system in order to determine whether someone has contributed or not,” junior secretary Allison Cheng said.

The decisions are made by the class officers among others. “Obviously Hope, Tyler, and Allison helped me make this decision. Our sponsors Ms. Young and Ms. Kim, as well as our administrator Mr. Hitchens, also have a say in who they think should get in. However, we as officers ultimately have the final say,” Choi said.

This is a long process because they have to narrow down the number of applicants. “This process took about a month. We had to go through each application and read the teacher recommendation. We met at least three times to discuss the applications,” Safai said. 

It can be unfortunate that they can only accept a limited number of applicants. “I must say that for the officers and I, it’s hard to have to cut people from senior planning that we don’t want to cut. We can only accept a limited number of people, so it’s hard to have to reject someone who’s helped so much,” Choi said. 

Despite Choi’s disappointment in rejecting applicants, he can also make people’s day by telling them that they have been accepted. “I am very excited to tell the future planners that they got in. I’m looking forward to working with the people selected and creating a strong bond between us. I am also however, not excited to be informing those that did not get in of their rejection,” Choi said

Officers found it hard to withhold who got into the program from the student population. “Our co-sponsor, Ms. Young sent out emails announcing who got in. I was very excited to tell the future planners because a couple of them would ask me during school, and it’s great that they know now,” Cheng said.