Niki Nguyen, ASB Vice President 2019
August ASB Report
Position Assessment:
As a part of ASB, my responsibilities have changed this year as opposed to the last. Starting off the year with the approval of the constitution as well as a formal ASB meeting, the team and I looked at our long term goals for the year. In addition, I was in charge of the Back to School Dance and selling tickets as well as filling out the paperwork for it. Overall, the dance was successful and we made approximately $3,000 if not more. However, I unfortunately failed to make a cash box form for water sales which resulted in the loss of money that we could have made by selling waters. That being said, we still gave out waters for free and even had enough for people to get two. I am also in charge of all the commissioners and have been checking in with most of them, ensuring that they are clear with what deadlines they have and all their questions have been answered.
Standing Committee:
I am a part of two standing committees including the military wall and the balloon arch committee. For the balloon arch, we taught leaders at Ripon Elementary how to create them and approximately how many balloons you would need to create a full arch.
Special Committee:
Two special committees that I am a part of this year are coronation and the tri tip fundraiser. So far for coronation, Natalie has looked into tiaras and sashes as well as has a basic idea of how the king and queen will be presented the day of. As for the tri tip fundraiser, ASB made a formal decision to incorporate potato salad, tri tip, chips, cookies, and bread rolls into the meal.
Concerns:
One concern that I have is being punctual to events, especially my own, and making deadlines. The back to school dance was really a test to see what abilities I had and didn’t have. Unfortunately, I let myself and others down by showing up late to my own event due to a lack of transportation and failed to remember to fill out a cash box form resulting in less money being made at the dance. I cannot go back in time to change this, however it is my hope that I grow from this failure and fail forward. I want to be taken seriously in the eyes of my peers and in order to do that, I need to set a positive example and be a role model for others.
Positive Comments:
I am beyond amazed at the amount of spirit and overall competition between the classes this year. Although the juniors are in last place, at the end of the day, I am proud of the students at Ripon High for making an effort to get involved with their class. I have never seen RHS this spirited, and I am beyond excited for homecoming! Everyone better watch for the JUNIORS!
One Change You Would Like to See:
I would love to see more spirit within the Junior class. I genuinely want to see our class surpass the seniors in spirit, however it is extremely difficult to get people involved. I have tried everything from announcing it in group chats, to becoming a meme to scare people into dressing up. My hope this year is to make the abnormal normal. To persuade people into believing that dressing up and being different is cool!
My Impact:
I had the opportunity of meeting multiple foreign exchange students this year and they are literally the SWEETEST people ever! I met two foreign exchange students from Italy, Bart and Vittoria, and had lunch with them ensuring they were settled. It was truly an eye opening experience because we exchanged different ideas and shared about each others' cultures. I also met a Belgium exchange student named Edith and was shocked by how well she was able to speak English. I am beyond grateful that RHS provides programs throughout the world to experience the American culture. With these experiences, students at Ripon High and other countries benefit from each other and become more globally aware.
As a part of ASB, my responsibilities have changed this year as opposed to the last. Starting off the year with the approval of the constitution as well as a formal ASB meeting, the team and I looked at our long term goals for the year. In addition, I was in charge of the Back to School Dance and selling tickets as well as filling out the paperwork for it. Overall, the dance was successful and we made approximately $3,000 if not more. However, I unfortunately failed to make a cash box form for water sales which resulted in the loss of money that we could have made by selling waters. That being said, we still gave out waters for free and even had enough for people to get two. I am also in charge of all the commissioners and have been checking in with most of them, ensuring that they are clear with what deadlines they have and all their questions have been answered.
Standing Committee:
I am a part of two standing committees including the military wall and the balloon arch committee. For the balloon arch, we taught leaders at Ripon Elementary how to create them and approximately how many balloons you would need to create a full arch.
Special Committee:
Two special committees that I am a part of this year are coronation and the tri tip fundraiser. So far for coronation, Natalie has looked into tiaras and sashes as well as has a basic idea of how the king and queen will be presented the day of. As for the tri tip fundraiser, ASB made a formal decision to incorporate potato salad, tri tip, chips, cookies, and bread rolls into the meal.
Concerns:
One concern that I have is being punctual to events, especially my own, and making deadlines. The back to school dance was really a test to see what abilities I had and didn’t have. Unfortunately, I let myself and others down by showing up late to my own event due to a lack of transportation and failed to remember to fill out a cash box form resulting in less money being made at the dance. I cannot go back in time to change this, however it is my hope that I grow from this failure and fail forward. I want to be taken seriously in the eyes of my peers and in order to do that, I need to set a positive example and be a role model for others.
Positive Comments:
I am beyond amazed at the amount of spirit and overall competition between the classes this year. Although the juniors are in last place, at the end of the day, I am proud of the students at Ripon High for making an effort to get involved with their class. I have never seen RHS this spirited, and I am beyond excited for homecoming! Everyone better watch for the JUNIORS!
One Change You Would Like to See:
I would love to see more spirit within the Junior class. I genuinely want to see our class surpass the seniors in spirit, however it is extremely difficult to get people involved. I have tried everything from announcing it in group chats, to becoming a meme to scare people into dressing up. My hope this year is to make the abnormal normal. To persuade people into believing that dressing up and being different is cool!
My Impact:
I had the opportunity of meeting multiple foreign exchange students this year and they are literally the SWEETEST people ever! I met two foreign exchange students from Italy, Bart and Vittoria, and had lunch with them ensuring they were settled. It was truly an eye opening experience because we exchanged different ideas and shared about each others' cultures. I also met a Belgium exchange student named Edith and was shocked by how well she was able to speak English. I am beyond grateful that RHS provides programs throughout the world to experience the American culture. With these experiences, students at Ripon High and other countries benefit from each other and become more globally aware.
September/October ASB Report
Position Assessment:
This month, I have been working with the Junior officers and the Junior team with homecoming. Although I wasn’t as involved as I was last year, I participated in all the activities as well as even helped choreograph parts of the lip sync (something I now look forward to every year)! I also was part of the coronation committee in which I’ll go deeper in depth with for special committees, but everything went smoothly, especially because the theme this year was so straightforward as well as the way we presented the king and queen. ASB is also in charge of our annual tri tip fundraiser.
For the tri tip fundraiser we ended up hitting a few bumps in the road, however based on the turnout this Thursday, we’ll see if we are successful or not. Initially, we made groups for people to sell together, therefore increasing our chance of selling a greater amount of tickets. We also introduced the idea of a competition in which by selling to adults around campus, you would receive more or less points. Ultimately however, our goal was to sell the most tickets and bond with one another throughout it. This did not happen. The most disappointing aspect of the fundraiser wasn’t the fact that we did not sell all 600 tickets, but was the fact that there were students that were excluded, and had poor work ethic by not even attempting to work with the team given to sell said tickets. I will admit, my team and I did not go out and drive around selling our tickets either which is not the way an ASB member should be acting especially when other leadership students are supposed to look up towards us.
In addition, I stayed after school on Friday to count all the ticket stubs, put them in order, and call every single person in the class ensuring they brought in the money they received. This was an incredibly painstaking and strenuous process. Afterwards, I was extremely frustrated and puzzled as to why the numbers didn’t add up and why we allowed our fundraiser to become so unorganized. In the end, we found that the issue was the incorrect money count on Friday (aka Morty’s fault!!!!! Jk...unless..)
Standing Committee:
This year, I was once again a trainee for the coronation committee. We came up with the idea of presenting court through maps. Because the idea this year was so straightforward, everything went smoothly, especially having Natalie as the person in charge of the event. The tiaras and sashes were ordered on time and were beautiful, despite the Grand Marshal's sash being spelled incorrectly. Natalie chose to make the posters using stencils this year instead of free hand making them look a lot neater and much more professional. The descriptions of court
were read by Mrs. Pendelton and Brendan I made sure that the boys knew where to put the little stand-things (I forgot what they were called) that the court would stand on during the halftime powderpuff game.
Special Committee:
To be completely honest, we haven’t really started on the military wall this year... but we will eventually! Other than that I’m also a part of the winter and spring sports Senior Nights in which have not occurred yet. I will be attending as many as possible when the time comes. In the balloon arch committee, there has not been a need for a balloon arch recently.
Concerns:
A big concern that we’ve run into this year is the lack of communication within the ASB team. We had a meeting about how our lack of communication has lead to the decrease in respect that is given to us by our peers and an unorganized tri tip fundraiser. I personally felt that overall, I haven’t been as involved as I was last year as Sophomore Class president. Although this is partly because I’m in ASB, I still want to be equally as involved as last year and to make a positive impact amongst others in the class and the school. From this point on, I plan on changing my ways and working harder to ask Carmen what she wants done and to constantly check up on the ASB team to see if we need to make any other deadlines. My question though is if I’m being too serious? Am I being too tightly wound up or is this how we should be acting. I want to have fun in leadership, but at some point we have to be serious and focus on the tasks at hand.
Positive Comments:
I was genuinely so proud of the amount of spirit all the classes demonstrated throughout homecoming. We had over 50% of participation on all the spirit days and an extreme amount of spirit during rallys, and the lip sync. Everything was so exciting and the majority of the student body fully embraced homecoming which was the ultimate goal.
One Change You Would Like to See:
I would like to see the Junior class officers be more unified and less hostile between one another. During homecoming, it seemed as if everyone was talking behind each other’s backs and there was just a lack of communication overall. Respect was low between each officer and feelings were hurt. With our recent meeting, it is in my hopes that Winterfest is more successful and positive.
My Impact:
I assisted in as much as I possibly could during homecoming. There were parts of the lip sync that I helped choreograph and I was Gabriel’s “assistant choreographer” which was extremely entertaining. In addition to homecoming, I spent hours trying to figure out the money and ticket debacle and everything ended up adding up.
This month, I have been working with the Junior officers and the Junior team with homecoming. Although I wasn’t as involved as I was last year, I participated in all the activities as well as even helped choreograph parts of the lip sync (something I now look forward to every year)! I also was part of the coronation committee in which I’ll go deeper in depth with for special committees, but everything went smoothly, especially because the theme this year was so straightforward as well as the way we presented the king and queen. ASB is also in charge of our annual tri tip fundraiser.
For the tri tip fundraiser we ended up hitting a few bumps in the road, however based on the turnout this Thursday, we’ll see if we are successful or not. Initially, we made groups for people to sell together, therefore increasing our chance of selling a greater amount of tickets. We also introduced the idea of a competition in which by selling to adults around campus, you would receive more or less points. Ultimately however, our goal was to sell the most tickets and bond with one another throughout it. This did not happen. The most disappointing aspect of the fundraiser wasn’t the fact that we did not sell all 600 tickets, but was the fact that there were students that were excluded, and had poor work ethic by not even attempting to work with the team given to sell said tickets. I will admit, my team and I did not go out and drive around selling our tickets either which is not the way an ASB member should be acting especially when other leadership students are supposed to look up towards us.
In addition, I stayed after school on Friday to count all the ticket stubs, put them in order, and call every single person in the class ensuring they brought in the money they received. This was an incredibly painstaking and strenuous process. Afterwards, I was extremely frustrated and puzzled as to why the numbers didn’t add up and why we allowed our fundraiser to become so unorganized. In the end, we found that the issue was the incorrect money count on Friday (aka Morty’s fault!!!!! Jk...unless..)
Standing Committee:
This year, I was once again a trainee for the coronation committee. We came up with the idea of presenting court through maps. Because the idea this year was so straightforward, everything went smoothly, especially having Natalie as the person in charge of the event. The tiaras and sashes were ordered on time and were beautiful, despite the Grand Marshal's sash being spelled incorrectly. Natalie chose to make the posters using stencils this year instead of free hand making them look a lot neater and much more professional. The descriptions of court
were read by Mrs. Pendelton and Brendan I made sure that the boys knew where to put the little stand-things (I forgot what they were called) that the court would stand on during the halftime powderpuff game.
Special Committee:
To be completely honest, we haven’t really started on the military wall this year... but we will eventually! Other than that I’m also a part of the winter and spring sports Senior Nights in which have not occurred yet. I will be attending as many as possible when the time comes. In the balloon arch committee, there has not been a need for a balloon arch recently.
Concerns:
A big concern that we’ve run into this year is the lack of communication within the ASB team. We had a meeting about how our lack of communication has lead to the decrease in respect that is given to us by our peers and an unorganized tri tip fundraiser. I personally felt that overall, I haven’t been as involved as I was last year as Sophomore Class president. Although this is partly because I’m in ASB, I still want to be equally as involved as last year and to make a positive impact amongst others in the class and the school. From this point on, I plan on changing my ways and working harder to ask Carmen what she wants done and to constantly check up on the ASB team to see if we need to make any other deadlines. My question though is if I’m being too serious? Am I being too tightly wound up or is this how we should be acting. I want to have fun in leadership, but at some point we have to be serious and focus on the tasks at hand.
Positive Comments:
I was genuinely so proud of the amount of spirit all the classes demonstrated throughout homecoming. We had over 50% of participation on all the spirit days and an extreme amount of spirit during rallys, and the lip sync. Everything was so exciting and the majority of the student body fully embraced homecoming which was the ultimate goal.
One Change You Would Like to See:
I would like to see the Junior class officers be more unified and less hostile between one another. During homecoming, it seemed as if everyone was talking behind each other’s backs and there was just a lack of communication overall. Respect was low between each officer and feelings were hurt. With our recent meeting, it is in my hopes that Winterfest is more successful and positive.
My Impact:
I assisted in as much as I possibly could during homecoming. There were parts of the lip sync that I helped choreograph and I was Gabriel’s “assistant choreographer” which was extremely entertaining. In addition to homecoming, I spent hours trying to figure out the money and ticket debacle and everything ended up adding up.