Early in the morning, before first period even starts, some of the school’s most devoted students get together in room 182 and work together to create a sense of belonging at school, their ultimate goal. Aside from planning some of the school’s most important and loved events, leadership is a group full of hard workers that do a multitude of things for the school behind the scenes. With an active cabinet for each grade, and two advisors overseeing the program, leadership functions as a well-oiled machine that does more than just plan events.

Leadership includes a class treasurer, secretary, Vice President, and President for each class cabinet.

Junior class president Jane Scheuring said, “In Leadership, it’s a lot of putting on class events. I help delegate and manage and put on our class events, and help manage our class finances in cooperation with our treasurer and I lead all the meetings. It’s a management position.”

Each class meets during lunch once a week in meetings managed by their respective cabinet. However, all of leadership meet in the morning on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

“It’s not as scary as it seems,” Scheuring said, “Come to meetings. It’s a very welcoming community and we just want everyone’s opinion and our ultimate goal is to make everyone feel included.”

Leadership has two advisors—Christy Silkworth and Melissa Boles. They also attend all morning meetings and additionally oversee the events and work of leadership.

“The main purpose of leadership is for the creation of a school culture and to then go out and do the hard work of making sure every kid on campus feels like they are part of the community,” said Boles.

Leadership works on events such as prom, Red Fest, homecoming, and much more. Scheuring and Boles went into detail on what the spring semester is bringing for the program.

Scheuring said, “Right now the junior class is working on our senior prom. I can’t say much about it, but I have really enjoyed doing that and am looking forward to more surrounding that.”

“The spring semester is a little different for leadership because it’s longer and so the events are a little more spread out,” said Boles, “We are going to try to expand our Red Fest, which is our fun celebration of being Redwood Giants. We’re also going to try to get some more clubs and organizations on campus involved in Red Fest.”

Spirit on campus, such as Red Fest, has continued to be one of Leadership’s main goals, which is one of the most important factors about the program for Silkworth.

“It seemed like the kids were really engaged in spirit and just being Giants,” said Silkworth, about her perspective on the program before she joined as an advisor, “It made me really want to get involved.”

Leadership also has a large presence on social media, getting the word out about their program and the events they plan through their various Instagram accounts. With an account for each class (@redwood.2026, @redwood.2027, @redwood.2028, and @redwood.2029), their accounts combined have amassed hundreds of followers, ranging from students to parents.

“We get the word out through social media, emails, Redwood TV,” Boles said, “We have evolved as social media has evolved.”

Though Leadership focuses on the work students can do to benefit their own community and make other students feel included, Boles and Silkworth say that the program is still a class where students can learn vital life skills.

“I hope that what our kids get out of the class is that they are more confident approaching other teachers and students and that they understand the importance of trying to reach out and include other kids,” said Silkworth, “I think that it develops some skills in communication efforts.”

Reflecting on what she has learned as class president, Scheuring said, “l have learned that delegation is really important. My first semester as class president, I thought I was supposed to do everything myself and then I realized it was hurting more than it was helping because not only is leadership a class full of people that want to help, it’s a class full of kids that are their own leaders.”