Schools in the West Sierra League typically meet to play each other in sports, however student leadership representatives met to improve campus activities in Firebaugh for the first WSL meeting of the year on Oct. 30.

During these monthly meetings, the students discuss school activities, events and learn new ideas from each other. Students exchange different views on school events and learn about other schools in their league.

The meeting started with the traditional icebreaker, to introduce and reacquaint members.

?We usually start with a game at the meetings,? Abby Schoettler, ?09, said, ?that sort of blends everyone together and we get to do something fun with the schools who are typically rivals with us in sports.?

To portray a message of perseverance and hard work, a movie called ?Fish Philosophy,? was shown, followed by a five-minute discussion.

?The meetings help us to get fresh ideas,? Brittany Shaffer, ?09, said. ?This first meeting was critical, because it can help us to learn from other schools about some fun events for the beginning of the school year. Then we can make those new ideas fit our school.?

Students then split into groups based upon their offices. While in the groups, they discussed six categories: fundraising, rallies, powder puff, prizes, class competitions and intramurals.

“The goals of these groups were to vocalize their most successful events or tasks,” Jeremy Ramos, student body president, said, “or whatever it was under each category, after about 30 minutes of collaborating.”

Each of the six groups, which consisted of at least one person from each school, presented a charade to the rest of the group, to illustrate new ideas.

“After the idea was guessed they would explain why it worked,” Samantha Krikorian, ’08, said, “or how they used it or whatever would apply to each group. This was very useful and helpful to every school to receive new ideas.”

The next meeting will be at Tranquillity on Nov. 27.

“This meeting was unlike any other,” Krikorian said, “in the way everyone talked to each other, they weren’t afraid to speak; we actually had a good time. The past years, it had been awkward and stiff, but FCS definately switched it up.”