2020 Freshman Activities Fair
October 19, 2020
School administrators have organized a social distancing-friendly substitute for the annual Freshman Activities Fair here at WHHS, giving underclassmen the option to explore their extracurricular opportunities via a virtual presentation.
Much to the class of 2024’s dismay, it was practically impossible to host an in-person fair this fall, taking into consideration the constraints of hybrid scheduling and district-wide COVID regulations.
The popular event typically takes place at the start of each school year, giving new students a chance to browse the wide selection of clubs and activities that WHHS has to offer. The students are encouraged to visit the set-up during lunch, collecting information on groups that might interest them and potentially even signing up.
Despite the fact that these kinds of face-to-face interactions are ideal, school advisors insisted that it was imperative to create an opportunity this year to help remotely recreate the experience for incoming freshmen.
With this in mind, Jeffrey DiLollo, Assistant Principal for Athletics and Activities, proposed a Prezi presentation in replacement of the annual gathering which includes brief descriptions of each club and available forms of interest.
“I am really disappointed that my grade didn’t get to go to the actual fair this year,” said Freshman Matt Anevski. “However, I’m grateful that we were able to get some sort of extracurricular information without jeopardizing the COVID-19 restrictions. It helped a lot, and I am planning to apply to two different clubs.”
While DiLollo’s plan has been successful in maintaining the school’s social distancing protocol, the virtual display itself has not turned out to be quite as effective in actually reaching the freshman class. After consulting many students, it seems as though the majority of freshmen were not as informed as Matt- completely unaware of the presentation.
“No one ever told me about this online fair,” said Freshman Eric Kosoy. “ I don’t think a lot of my friends know about it either. We were looking forward to taking part in a few clubs this year but just assumed that they were no longer being offered because of COVID.”
“I have not heard of any way to see the selection of school clubs yet,” said Freshman Julie Bae “It’s possible that one of my teachers posted it on Google Classroom or something, but I think most people probably just overlooked it.”
While there have clearly been some difficulties in publicizing the virtual fair thus far, the presentation is fortunately still available. Since student-involvement is a critical part of the overall high school experience, all students are encouraged to visit the link below to explore all of the extracurriculars that WHHS offers.
