Leadership combats steady decline in school spirit

Leadership keeps the walls decorated with announcements, but does anyone read them?“My mom ran over a cat this morning,” and “The third floor bathroom stalls smell like me,” are just some of the secrets that will be posted this Monday. This project, along with others, is meant to better the school environment at Albany High.

Headed by leadership teacher Tami Benau, ASG has taken on the task of improving school culture and increasing student involvement in school-related activities. The leadership students have formulated several ideas for solving the problem of school insipidness, some of which are already in full effect. Projects like “Post Your Secrets” and “Chalk It Up Day” try to encourage students to take more active roles in the school. Several other projects are attempting to do the same. But are these creative plans actually doing anything to combat the growing lack of school enthusiasm?

Though the leadership class has innovative ideas, many students are skeptical about the outcome of these projects. Junior Class Vice President Will Kim has worked hard on many of these ventures, and through his work has realized that, “You can’t force people to express themselves.” And like most students, ASB Secretary Sam Bozek feels that improving school culture is too big of a problem to be addressed by such small projects. Bozek compared the attempt to “healing a bullet wound with a band-aid.” The publicity for the projects has attracted very few students at best, and most “are not aware of any projects at all.”

Leadership’s work has not entirely gone in vain though. Those who have heard of the projects understand that the school does care about problems surrounding diversity. And for students like Martha Vanbik, “the school’s efforts are making for a more comfortable social and learning environment.”