The Leadership Team of Cal Young

The Leadership Team of Cal Young

By: Olivia Wright

Date: 2/7/25

Imagine a class where the students are working together to help make Cal Young a fun and exciting place. A class where each person helps out. A class where each student wants to help make Cal Young a better place for everyone. A class full of leaders.

Well, guess what? At Cal Young we have a class just like this. This class of 32 students is the leadership advisory class of our school. The leadership team organizes events like dances, spirit weeks, and campaigns. If there is an event here at Cal Young, our leadership team is behind it.  They work hard every day to make Cal Young a place where you feel like you belong. 

Mrs. Rachel, Megan, and Marcus teach the class but are mostly hands off,  allowing the students to plan and organize the events. Everyone in the class pitches in to help with the daily activities. During projects, the class collaborates with each other like a team, figuring out what to do next. 

I wanted to see how the class works and the process of planning events, so I visited their advisory class. Right after a little intro from Ms. Rachel, they got straight to work, going to their different groups. When I visited in January, there were groups working on the Valegrams, Spirit Week, and an Activity Night. 

The group in charge of the Valegrams started printing and cutting papers. They are perfecting the notes that will be sent out to every student on Valentines Day.

The spirit week and activity night groups do many things too. For the dance, they ordered decorations and made arrangements. On the day of the dance, they’ll stay after school to set up chairs, decorations, a DJ station, and photo op. 

I was curious what the class is like from a students perspective, so I interviewed a couple students on the leadership team, including Isabella Sanchez. She said that the class made her feel like she’s making a difference and that “it gives you a lot of confidence.” Her favorite part about being in the class is planning and making the schedule. She said that sometimes it’s hard, but she still loves being a part of the class and is happy to help Cal Young.

Another student I interviewed was McKaely Overton, an 8th grader in the leadership program. Her job is working on the advisory slides, campaigns currently happening, and the activity night. Her favorite part about being in the leadership class is, “connecting with everybody” because they are “super nice.” She felt that the class is a “good community and it's going to help the school.” She thought the class would help the school, because “Words have a huge impact and by helping to not continue bad words it's going to make a bigger impact.”

The last student I interviewed was a 7th grader, Tommy Adams. He said that his favorite part about the class was getting to learn how to create the advisory slides and videos. He also mentioned that the class made him feel “happy because my friends are in it,” and it made him feel assured. He thought that the class made an impact, because their work on the "It's Not A Joke" campaign can stop harmful things from happening at Cal Young.

Talking to these students made me glad, because they all liked the class and thought it made an impact. But, most of all, they all had a purpose, something to do to make Cal Young a great place for students like you and I. They also all felt a connection to the people in the class and that it was a great opportunity for our school.

This class has made an impact on our school whether we choose to recognize it or not with dances, campaigns, spirit week, and more. The advisory has wonderful students, each with a purpose. You might have a friend in the class or have a different connection to it, but when you see them in the halls, give them a compliment, or a thank you, something that shows you appreciate the positive impact they’ve had at Cal Young. The leadership team of Cal Young is an amazing group of kids that want to make our school a better place, so let’s help them out and think about each thing they have done for this school because this advisory class is necessary and it’s time to start showing our appreciation.