Katie Tan, Media Editor
Student Advocates is bringing back the school picnic for the first time in three years, and hopefully, it is here to stay. On May 21st, marking the last day seniors are in school before they leave on internships, Student Advocates are coming together with Student Coalition, Charity Link, the National Honors Society, and Captains’ Council to plan a school wide picnic with food trucks and games to help students de-stress and celebrate the end of the 2017-1028 school year.
Jack Dunn, Student Body President and member of Student Advocates, has had an active role in organizing this event along with Priscilla Schultz, the head of Student Coalition, and Cynthia Rivera, the head of Student Advocates. Jack notes the high priority topic of the picnic has taken over StuCo meetings in the past few weeks.
When Jack was a freshman, student advocates had created the first school picnic, but it only lasted that year. Now that Jack is a senior, he is hoping to successfully bring back the picnic as a fun event to destress students after AP testing and bring the school together for some end of year relaxation. “We thought back then [the picnic]would be a good idea to help distress, and it was right around the time of AP tests and before students went on internship, which will be the same time this year, so we thought it would be a good way to bring everyone together,” Jack said, “the picnic will give a farewell to the seniors, and we hope to make it an annual tradition.”
For Mr. Egan and every grade except senior this is the first picnic they’ve experienced at the high school. Mr. Egan was eager to bring back this event, “It’s one of the things I’ve been interested in and talked about since I’d gotten here, but I know it’s something Ms. Rivera has talked about the possibility of doing for the last few years and she really helped organize the whole thing,” he said.
As one of the faculty advisors for Student Advocates, Ms. Rivera has had a significant role in planning the school picnic. She has also organized for different groups and clubs from the school to come together to contribute. “The cafeteria is going to be doing a big picnic lunch for everybody they need to buy their tickets this week though or next week for Monday,” she said. Tickets will be on sale Wednesday 16 through Friday 18 in the cafeteria for $4.54.
When planning for the picnic, raising money was also very important to the committee. Students are encouraged to bring cash since there will be opportunities to donate. Charity link is providing a dunk tank for teachers who will volunteer to take part. There is going to be a photo booth, and the money from that will be donated to charity.
Captains’ Council is also taking part in the event by setting up games across the field. “They are putting up a volleyball net, and they are going to organize games out on the field,” she said. There will also be music provided by seniors Erin McGoldrick, Regan O’Malley, and Sammi Smith, who are DJing the event.
During the planning process, a lot of ideas were circulating around the picnic committee regarding games and food. Some popular games at the last picnic included classics like Kanjam, and this year they are hoping to bring in some new activities. There will be inflatable games and an obstacle course for the students to play on, and food trucks set up outside of the school.
Ms. Rivera encourages all students, especially seniors to attend the event and enjoy the end of the year. “I think it’s just a great opportunity for everyone to have fun. Why wouldn’t you want to jump around on inflatables, and be with your friends and just enjoy the time? The food is going to be great, they’re having ice cream and watermelon,” she said.
On May 21, seniors will have a half day, and the picnic will take place from 11:15 to 12:30. There will also be a closed campus at 11:15 for the rest of the school. “What I love about it is it’s an opportunity for everybody to just get together and really just celebrate the end of the year,” said Mr Egan.
