The Disconnect at Global Connections
Sarah Rezavi 25' Staff Writer
On April 28th Howard High hosted their first club-organized event, Global Connections. A variety of clubs held booths for activities and games. A Google form was sent through Canvas with a list of activities to choose from. Students were then told to check off the ones that most interested them and this would be taken into consideration when making the cards that would be given out. Many of the activities involved trivia, rice tasting, cornhole, Jeopardy, badminton, dance workshop, and puzzles, which were all organized by students who participated in different clubs. Some of these clubs included Los Leones, National Honor Society, environmental club and the AAA (Asian American Association). But overall, most students weren’t given their choice of activities and ended up getting put into stations that didn’t exactly excite them. An overambitious idea and bad planning ruined what could have been an insightful and fun event.
In order to run an “organized” event, all students were given cards with different stations they were told to attend. However, many of the students were only given one activity or none at all, and if your card was empty, you were instructed to stay in the atrium for the remainder of the day while the other students attended the events.
There were quite a few issues happening within the activities. Students attending the henna station located in the senior courtyard noticed that there was a shortage of tubes which were being used to give the tattoos; this resulted in the station soon being closed. At the rice tasting station, they ran out of rice.
Freshman Ahmad Zihini said his card had rice tasting (an Asian American Association held event) four times in a row, though he was fasting. “I didn’t really know what to do. I just went up to the station and gave extra cups of rice to my friends,” he explains, saying how he was unsure of what to do. Many other Muslim students who were observing Ramadan felt they were unseen because the event didn’t feel accessible to them.
Unlike other Howard events, Global Connections wasn’t entirely hosted by SGA. In fact many of the members found out about the event a week prior. “SGA didn’t have a huge role in global connections, it was more of clubs coming together. We didn’t get much information and they didn’t talk about it much,” freshman Nihitha Yeluguri states. She goes on to explain that the event as a whole was very unorganized. “People were playing football on the field and there wasn’t even a football station,” freshman football player Levar Lynch said, going on to explain that most people didn’t bother to show up to school at all and felt the half day was completely unnecessary.
“Regardless of what they gave us on the card, people were going to go where they wanted to go anyway. Instead of making us choose eight activities we wanted to do, we should've chosen eight people we wanted to be with” junior Sage McCartly explains, saying how the constant shifting and changing of events doesn’t allow for the actual enjoyment of the activity.
“All the activities were 15 minutes, so how are you supposed to fit a sizable event in that time period?” another student, Dennis Henderson, criticizes. “Our regular classes were completely shortened and many other students didn’t have much time to complete classwork.” He mentioned that the event should have taken up the entire half day or not be held at all.
The idea of booths with fun activities that brings awareness to clubs is a great way to bring students closer together. The disorganization and timing disrespected the cultures and clubs trying to spread awareness about themselves, and the jokes surrounding the event casted a bad light on the clubs hosting. So if Howard’s clubs are planning on hosting a Global Connections event next year, those in charge need to prioritize adequate planning to give these clubs the opportunity for good publicity that they deserve.
In order to run an “organized” event, all students were given cards with different stations they were told to attend. However, many of the students were only given one activity or none at all, and if your card was empty, you were instructed to stay in the atrium for the remainder of the day while the other students attended the events.
There were quite a few issues happening within the activities. Students attending the henna station located in the senior courtyard noticed that there was a shortage of tubes which were being used to give the tattoos; this resulted in the station soon being closed. At the rice tasting station, they ran out of rice.
Freshman Ahmad Zihini said his card had rice tasting (an Asian American Association held event) four times in a row, though he was fasting. “I didn’t really know what to do. I just went up to the station and gave extra cups of rice to my friends,” he explains, saying how he was unsure of what to do. Many other Muslim students who were observing Ramadan felt they were unseen because the event didn’t feel accessible to them.
Unlike other Howard events, Global Connections wasn’t entirely hosted by SGA. In fact many of the members found out about the event a week prior. “SGA didn’t have a huge role in global connections, it was more of clubs coming together. We didn’t get much information and they didn’t talk about it much,” freshman Nihitha Yeluguri states. She goes on to explain that the event as a whole was very unorganized. “People were playing football on the field and there wasn’t even a football station,” freshman football player Levar Lynch said, going on to explain that most people didn’t bother to show up to school at all and felt the half day was completely unnecessary.
“Regardless of what they gave us on the card, people were going to go where they wanted to go anyway. Instead of making us choose eight activities we wanted to do, we should've chosen eight people we wanted to be with” junior Sage McCartly explains, saying how the constant shifting and changing of events doesn’t allow for the actual enjoyment of the activity.
“All the activities were 15 minutes, so how are you supposed to fit a sizable event in that time period?” another student, Dennis Henderson, criticizes. “Our regular classes were completely shortened and many other students didn’t have much time to complete classwork.” He mentioned that the event should have taken up the entire half day or not be held at all.
The idea of booths with fun activities that brings awareness to clubs is a great way to bring students closer together. The disorganization and timing disrespected the cultures and clubs trying to spread awareness about themselves, and the jokes surrounding the event casted a bad light on the clubs hosting. So if Howard’s clubs are planning on hosting a Global Connections event next year, those in charge need to prioritize adequate planning to give these clubs the opportunity for good publicity that they deserve.