As you may know, Oakton’s Leadership class works extremely hard to appeal to all audiences in the student body. When crisis occurs, such as Hurricane Joaquin postponing homecoming, the students gather together in “committees” to resolve the problem. Each committee is a collection of four to five students who focus on one aspect of an event. Photo and Leadership teacher Susan Silva watches over the student leaders and helps them reach their goals for fun activities that guarantee memory making. All ideas created by the students are brainstormed together and proposed to Administration for approval. The process of choosing a theme for dances like Homecoming and Prom can take weeks to figure out, along with the time it takes to figure out expenses and how they will be able to pay for all decorations.

When each football game approaches, Leadership decides on a color theme for the student section. Not only does this show support to the football team, but it also allows all students to participate and feel involved in their class spirit. The Spirit Days that occur the week of Homecoming and Prom are specially designed to go hand in hand with the theme of the dance. Although some themes are used annually, such as pajama day, most of the spirit themes are entirely original and created that year.

It’s easy to believe that once each dance is over and fall sports have passed that Leadership has a lot of free time on their hands. This is false, as the students immediately begin planning for future events and next year’s curriculum. Have you ever wondered how the gym transforms into an elegant ball for one night and is back to normal just two days later? All of that work is done by the Leadership students, set up and take down. Without Leadership, all of the classic high school events wouldn’t happen.