In the upcoming weeks, junior planning will be raising money and spreading school spirit for the junior class.
Because of COVID-19 all in-person fundraisers and school events have been cancelled, so the junior planners need to figure out what to do now that it is virtual. Most recently, the club has been discussing ideas for the junior banquet, however, due to COVID, they are having to adapt and come up with new ways to make the event happen safely. “One of our largest undertakings this year will be junior banquet,” junior Dylan Safai said.

The club did planning for homecoming, but found trouble because the usual floats had to be abandoned. “We had to design a virtual homecoming room this year due to COVID,” Safai said.

In addition to planning this event, junior planning is also organizing fundraisers to help pay for all the expenses. The two current fundraisers in the works are planned to be at Jerry’s Pizza and Jersey Mike’s. “Most of our fundraising is going to be done via restaurant nights, where families can use curbside pickup to safely enjoy quality meals while supporting our grade,” junior Josh Freedman said.

Homecoming and junior banquet suffer from school canceling, which was thought to have a major impact on junior planning. However, so far they have not had a problem adjusting, and instead seem to actually be thriving. “It’s been going well, we have had one meeting so far during lunch, and there was a great turnout,” junior Suhani Singh said.

Alongside Zoom meetings, junior planning has a variety of means of communication between members. Every member has access to the club’s social media platforms. “We communicate mainly through our email list, Instagram and Facebook,” Singh said.

The overall purpose of having junior planning is to elevate the level of school spirit in the junior class and bring the students closer, while allowing them to feel more connected within their community. “I love participating in junior planning because it is rewarding when you know that you contributed to a fantastic school year,” Singh said.

Junior planning is run mainly by the officers with support from sponsors and the class administrator. The sponsors, Victoria Barry and Neil Klees, and the class’ administrator, Joseph Mamana, are there to finalize the club’s ideas and provide additional suggestions. “Our two sponsors, Ms. Barry and Mr. Klees, are great. They’re both extremely supportive of our grade, and always have excellent advice to give,” Freedman said. “However, that does not mean that they do all the work for us.”

To be put into consideration, you need to contact one of the four officers: Dylan Safai, Keerthi Padnabaham, Joaquin Moreno and Jasmine Gorg. “We did have a Google form at the beginning to have potential members fill out, however the club is also looking for more members,” Safai said.