This year, OHS is implementing a new type of club meeting. Together, clubs and sports will be able to work hand in hand supporting and promoting each other’s activities. Meeting once a month during Eagle Hour, a representative from each club or sport will gather with other representatives to discuss ways of helping one another out.

By starting this collaboration, a stronger sense of communication among the student body is expected to develop, in hopes that it will allow school spirit to increase across campus.

“The main goal is to increase communication amongst all the clubs and sports, just to help support one another. If more people know what’s happening when, I think we can get more student participation in going to these events,” said Carrie Ballou, math teacher and supervisor of student government.

The meetings will help create a stronger connection between all of the different programs. If a calendar of events can be put together, clubs and sports will be able to have a greater awareness of what is going on around campus.

“The goal of the meetings is to unify Sandra Day O’Connor and insure that we’re all on the same page of what’s happening around campus. And it’s also to help promote everybody’s stuff. So to get on each other’s social media and then be able to promote everybody’s stuff so we get more interaction all the way around and can support each other a little bit better,” said Lauren Fetkenhier, STUGO advisor.

A combination of having an open floor type order, and the usage of Q&A times during the meetings will help promote communication between the clubs, as they can help each other in the advancements of their activities. The creation of a single calendar of events will also be beneficial towards the unification of all clubs and sports.

“For the agenda, we’ll share good of the order. So we’ll share what’s happening. We’ll go over stuff that’s coming up for the school, like student government’s doing if it was carnival, trying to get more people to sign up for booths,” Fetkenhier said. “And sports teams are also going to be there. We ask that team captains are also there so then maybe by doing that, maybe they can come up with new ideas and things that they want to see to help better the school in general.”

The roundtable will be most effective if every club and sport participates. Having a voice from each group will help create a better communication basis between peers across campus.

“I hope we get representatives from everybody. Because I think that’s one of the only ways that it’s going to work, is if we have equal representation. I don’t want anyone to feel left out;I don’t want people to not be there supporting or representing their club or sport. So hopefully we can get one hundred percent participation in it,” Ballou said.

This is not the first time a roundtable has been conducted at OHS. A few years back, clubs had gotten together and collaborated in the same way they plan to this year. Fetkenhier hopes that by bringing it back, more unity can be restored around campus.

“By bringing it back, I really think that we can get more support for each other, and I just think it’s going to add more unity around campus. So I think by having these meetings, it’s going to help get people to know each other more than whether they do or don’t know people; it will help unify them more,” Fetkenhier said.

One way clubs and sports will be able to support each other better is by promoting one another across social media. If news about club events receives more publicity, there can begin to be more widespread participation across campus.

“I definitely think a big part of it will also be on social media, just all being on the same accounts and being able to repost each other’s stuff and just being able to get the word out about all events, and being able to get the school more hyped about different events that are going to be going on,” said Reagan Taylor, senior.

In the end, the goal of establishing these meetings between all the clubs and sports teams is to help bring the OHS student body closer together. 

“I hope it will bring a positive impact to everybody. Because I feel like if we have a representative [from each club] there stating what they need and what they can do to help, it will just bring us all together and help us support one another,” Ballou said.