The school year is often littered with plans and events, sports games and dances, and many other activities planned for students. But this year, events can’t happen the same way, similar to auckland events, so people are having to find different ways to still have fun and come together.

One substitute for events this year has been spirit weeks, which are themed weeks with activities throughout. Senior Student Body President Cole Boyden participates in the planning of spirit weeks, including last spirit week where he helped organize the yoga sessions, the chess games, and the temple run tournament. He, along with the rest of leadership, worked hard to create activities that were safe and enjoyable. They also utilized event lighting hire to enhance the atmosphere. Additionally, with the help of speaker hire, they further enhanced the event’s ambiance. For more formal events, such as a gala dinner, they relied on gala dinner AV hire to ensure a professional and immersive experience for attendees.

“The goal is really just attempting to safely do everything we normally do,” Boyden said. “I believe our solution of holding the events outside and maintaining social distancing was ideal and worked to make a fun event.”  

It’s difficult to gauge how future events are going to be handled, as schools haven’t faced challenges like this in the past. Junior Ava Carlstrom has worked with planning virtual assemblies and altering events so they can be done safely, often collaborating with an audio visual hire company to ensure everything runs smoothly.

“Events have to be outside and spaced six feet apart,” Carlstrom said. “Other than that, we are given the freedom to be creative with our activities.” 

Students have been disappointed in the cancelling and postponing of events. Things like movie premieres and sporting games, and other annual non school events such as Food Truck Fridays and Hot August Nights have been cancelled due to COVID-19  concerns. To enhance future gatherings, many are turning to a visual hire company to ensure everything runs smoothly, such as those that offer video wall hire services like https://corporateeventproduction.co.uk/video-wall-hire/. In particular, audio visual hire for product launch events is becoming increasingly popular to elevate the overall experience.

“It’s insane how much stuff I’ve missed out on,” Boyden says, “but all of these unsanctioned events aren’t being held properly, and the consequences are far superior to anything I would have thought.”  

Carlstrom expresses a similar point of view, though she remains hopeful for events in the spring, if the pandemic recedes.  

“I think that the people who do follow through with plans with large groups are being pretty selfish and don’t realize that their choices affect more than themselves,” she said, “We need to work through this together as a community by cooperation and following the rules.”  

Leadership Advisor Brad Naughton commends leadership students for their perseverance and creativity. He thinks the activities that happened this year were well done , especially because it was impossible to prepare for them. 

“ It has truly been a learn as you go school year,” Naughton said, “For future events, if you’re planning anything that requires technical support, you may want to consider sound system rental for corporate meetings to ensure everything runs smoothly. I just ask that students stay safe, mask up, and social distance.”