As far as sports go in the West Sequoia League (WSL), teams can get aggressive playing against each other for games and championships. But in the world of academics, WSL leadership meetings give students the chance to interact in a non-competitive environment.
Each month, representatives from each school come together to discuss events, ideas and get to know the dynamic of different leadership classes.
The WSL met on the FC campus to end the year, May 13. As the hosts, student leadership provided free breakfast for each school, which included sophomore Stephen Melendez’s breakfast burritos.
Attendees from Firebaugh, Fowler, Mendota, Tranquillity and FC, were able to talk on the pros and cons of this past year.
The Associated Student Body (ASB) President for Fowler High School, Raeann Vasquez appreciated sharing ideas with other schools.
“My favorite part about WSL is getting other ideas from each other about activities like rallies and dances,” Vasquez said. “It’s good to know that beyond sports, we all get along with each other really well.”
As each school arrived, members of student leadership gave tours around the campus in order to help others understand the way the school works.
Student Body President Angie Iriebe, a senior from Mendota High School, enjoyed the chance to learn about other schools and get ideas for student leadership.
“I really like the tours; that way we can know what other schools do,” Iriebe said. “I can take these things back to my school and learn about other activities that we could do. We learn what we can do and what we can change at our school. For example, we heard about other schools extending their rallies, so we took it upon ourselves to ask our principal if we could do the same.”
The Firebaugh Student Body Secretary Carmen Paredes, ’11, agrees with Iriebe’s opinion and likes to interact with other schools and students during the meetings.
“It’s really fun because you get to interact with a lot of students,” Paredes said. “We get to find out about other schools that we can bring back to use at our school to make it better. We got pass on some of our new ideas and that was really neat.”
After spending time touring other high schools at WSL meetings, campus Vice President Bree Ainley, a senior, enjoyed hosting at FC and sharing the campus experience.
“A lot of people don’t know a lot about private school,” Ainley said. “Its cool to bring them to our school. Some people asked me ‘if I lived on campus’ and ‘where are the nuns?’ We got to go to all their campuses so its good to finally bring them to ours. I also liked how we ended with our home school.”
Although senior Ari Valavev of Tranquillity recommends more adult participation in the meetings, she enjoyed her day at FC.
“My expereince here was definately great, I enjoyed seeing everybody, Valavev said. “One thing you guys might have is more adults to attend the meeting so that we can stay quiet. Overall it was great and outstanding as well as organized.”
For more information on the WSL, read the Jan. 25 article, WSL schools collaborate on leadership and the Feb. 17 article Talent Show lauds league performers.
