Lynbrook ASB has always organized school-wide projects in an effort to create a positive campus environment. In this year’s virtual setting, ASB has continued to provide the student body with engaging experiences through events such as class competitions, social media challenges, game shows and art competitions. 

Homecoming, a significant event to many Lynbrook students, is tentatively scheduled to take place in person in spring 2021, though ASB and administrators have not set an official date or created concrete plans because of the pandemic. 

“It’s really important to us that we plan and execute a Homecoming and a senior prom if we get the chance,” ASB Vice President Kanav Tirumala said. “There’s still hope, and as soon as we get the go ahead because coronavirus cases have gone down or a vaccine has been developed, we’ll be on it.”

Class officers have been brainstorming ideas about how Homecoming should be conducted since the spring. Because of the likelihood that school would not be in-person, they looked into ways to plan a virtual Homecoming, such as having a filmed skit that would be shared with the student body.

Without Homecoming taking up most of fall, class officers planned another event that took place from Sept. 21 to Oct. 2 to maintain class spirit: Battle of the Classes (BOTC). Similar to spirit weeks and other class competitions like Coin Wars, this event was a service project that gave students the opportunity to support the community. This time, the project aimed to help senior citizens.

Students were encouraged to submit photos and letters as part of the challenge, and class officers compiled all of the virtually-collected submissions into an online package and sent it out to local seniors at the end of the competition. While the spirit of Homecoming was hard to replicate, class officers hoped that a competition between classes to help the community could keep up class spirit while supporting those in need during the pandemic.

“Even though everything is different this year, without a fall Homecoming, we gain extra time that we can use to do something good for our community,” Class of 2023 President Emma Tu said. 

Students submitted their photos for BOTC through the new Lynbrook app, developed by ASB President Michael Zhao, Class of 2022 President Joe Lin and junior Oliver Ni. The app not only provides an efficient method of keeping track of participation for spirit events, but also compiles student resources such as announcements, schedules and club information in one centralized location for easy access.

“I thought Battle of the Classes was a pretty fun event,” junior Malaika Sriram said. “I also liked how the Lynbrook app helps me keep track of clubs and classes, practically doing a better job at it than Schoology for me.”

Meanwhile, ASB commissions have also been pursuing a variety of other projects. The ASB Social Commission has created a game show, “The Viking Games,” scheduled to take place in October 2020. Students will sign up and compete in challenges and mini-games, including Family Feud, Jeopardy and Guess this Gibberish. More details will be released as the event approaches. 

“This year, traditional social events like dances and movie nights couldn’t happen on campus once we transferred to the distance learning model, so there was uncertainty with what events we were going to plan and how we were going to move forward,” Social Commissioner Tim Jing said. 

The Spirit Commission organized the Vikepound shirt and spirit week challenges through Instagram at the start of the school year. For Halloween, they are planning a special spirit event. The Tech Commission is currently planning on filming a spicy ramen challenge through Zoom where ASB officers and class presidents answer student-submitted questions that will be published on YouTube. As always, Tech is also helping the PR Commission film monthly PR videos.

“For PR videos, everyone is wearing a mask and social distancing,” Tech Commissioner Teresa Arisawa said. “We film outside and try to film each group during a designated time slot, so there aren’t too many people there at once.” 

ASB Recognition will continue posting on both the Humans of Lynbrook High School and Lynbrook Lookbook Instagram accounts. They accept direct messages from individuals who hope to be featured, as well as suggestions, and reach out to students who they believe have an unique fashion sense. They will also begin introducing a Lynbrook Cookbook series scheduled to start on Oct. 7, in which they collect videos of students making cultural dishes and post them twice a month using the reels feature on the Lynbrook ASB Instagram account. 

The Community Link Commission will be doing a fundraiser with proceeds going toward  the Red Cross Fire Relief Fund for the California wildfires. As always, they are working with clubs, with slightly adjusted guidelines, to make sure all events are held online and run smoothly. In November, they plan to begin an art appreciation event to feature new hobbies students began exploring during shelter-in-place. 

Although many changes have occurred this year, ASB has been innovative in their adaption to the new virtual environment and look forward to the student response to their upcoming events. 

“Overall, it’s definitely gotten a little harder, but not in a bad way,” Tu said. “There’s always going to be challenges and this year is just one of those challenges.”