GPHS Leadership

In this article, Audrey will explain the requirements, committee divisions, and activities of the GPHS Leadership program. She will also introduce the elections for ASB and class presidents, which partner with the class.

all you need to know: GPHS leadership

By: Audrey Roetling

GPHS Advanced Leadership class is an elective that teaches students reliability, collaboration, respect, professionalism, attitude, and problem-solving skills through the process of organizing and executing a variety of events and systems. The program generally takes students who are involved in the high school through clubs, community volunteering, or athletics. To apply, there are minimum requirements of 92% attendance, a GPA of 2.5, and teacher recommendations. These requirements need to be met to remain in the class, along with other requirements specific to the class, including 20 hours of volunteering at leadership-organized events.

Many people begin with the Intro to Leadership class, only offered to freshmen, during their first semester of high school. This class is not a requirement to be in Leadership, which an individual can apply for at any grade in high school, but it is the easiest way to be slowly introduced to a fast-paced class. Involvement in Intro to Leadership often increases the chances of being selected for the Advanced Leadership class, which is capped at roughly 55 students packed into just one class period (fourth period in 2024-2025). In the introductory class, students give a mission statement of “why” they want to contribute to the high school in an influential way. They are also introduced to the structure of committees, and learn how to manage events and perform certain tasks. For example, many people utilize the introductory class as a way to learn how to edit videos, make printed media on Canva, find supplies in the classroom, learn to speak to large audiences, or find efficient ways to paint posters the size of the high school lockers. This introductory class is also responsible for hosting a few events, such as the Snack Drive and the Middle School Winter Class; however, these events are a whole-class effort. This is different from the Advanced Leadership class, in which students tend to fall into one committee. Advanced leadership also requires students to attend school events, such as clubs, indoor sports, outdoor sports, dances, PAC events, and work at one Homecoming task (setup, working the dance, clean up, or Homecoming all decorating).

Advanced Leadership is made up of a variety of committees, which are each managed by one student. The committee leader, who is typically a senior, wins the role through class requirements and class elections. Committee leaders are not supposed to complete tasks for an event but have the responsibility of overseeing multiple events and the students who are working on them. When a committee leader divides their committee for multiple events and systems, it is referred to as an unofficial sub-committee. Events are large, schoolwide happenings that require a lot of planning, advertising, and decorating; systems are frequent (monthly/weekly) routines that are executed at the school and are run on large digital event planners that include assigned tasks. This includes dances, assemblies, spirit weeks, and more. Systems, which are smaller, frequent events (such as the monthly Toilet Times, weekly video announcements, and more) are run as a tab on a committee’s system planner. Another way to think of it is that events cannot continue without student/staff participation; systems are done for the school. The committees were reconstructed from nine small committees into five large committees this year. During first semester of this school year, the class had nine committees, including Spirit (Spirit Weeks), Recognition (Awards, Birthday Notes, Teacher Appreciation), Events 1 (Assemblies), Events 2 (Dances), Caveman Hype (Student Sections), Community Outreach (Sparrow Events), D7 Outreach (Elementary and Middle School Events), Student Activities (School Day Lunch Activities), and Media (Video Announcements). However, during the second semester, these committees were separated into five large committees covering a variety of events and systems. Each requires more individuals to work on them. The media committee was cut, so the larger committees are responsible for creating their own video announcements, which are currently edited by a new student every week through the volunteer sign-up sheet, rather than by committee.

assemblies COMMITTEE

Image of 2024 Homecoming Assembly from GPHS Leadership

Whole School Community Building, also known as the Assemblies Committee, is an event-based committee dedicated to designing and executing all of the assemblies and pep rallies in the school year, including the Homecoming assembly, the Sparrow Kick-off assembly, the Winter Sports pep rally, the Winter Ball pep rally, the Sparrow Wrap-Up/Prom assembly, and the Senior Send-Off assembly. Assemblies and pep rallies are planned with the purpose of recognizing students and highlighting events for the student body to build community. Bryce Sanborn, who will take over as Assemblies Committee Leader for the 2025-26 school year, stated in an interview: "I enjoy being able to bring everyone together, whether for our sparrow or our sports. It's always awesome to see everyone support something together." The members of this committee plan the assemblies, decorate the gymnasium or football field, draft schedules, write scripts, create the videos and media played at the assembly, design and test the games played, and video the event for future footage. Also, the assemblies committee is in charge of communicating in advance with participating guest speakers, Sparrow Clubs, coaches, music directors, students, and teachers. Every year, the committee has the ability to change the way that assemblies are run (within reason)-- finding new games, new ways to announce the winners of the dance courts, or new incentives for audience members. Assemblies is an event-based committee, so members are only responsible for one system: dance courts. This can include crowning the members of the dance courts and first notifying the students during the school day that they are nominated, creating baskets for the winners, and counting the results from the nomination form.

Community Service Committee

The Community Service/Connection Committee covers systems that involve staff appreciation and D7 school connections, along with all schoolwide events that fundraise for the school Sparrow (an individual selected yearly for whom the high school fundraises medical costs). This committee is essentially the combination of the Community Outreach, D7 Outreach, and recognition committees--with many cuts for events. Lauren Pratt, who will be taking over as the Community Service Committee leader for the 2025-26 School year, stated that “Community Service gives an opportunity to look past high school and see the good you can do everywhere! Obviously, our students are so loved and appreciated but to be able to impact real lives through programs such as Sparrow and Adopt a Family is so special and exciting to participate in!” Their systems include 5-star prize redemptions on Tues. lunch, weekly teacher/admin recognition segments on the announcements, promotion for filling out Sparrow vouchers (students fill out volunteer hours to unlock money for the Sparrow), a monthly coffee cart for teachers, the birthday note wall, starting in 2025-26, Sparrow update video announcements, Leadership D7 school visits, and Adopt a Family-- which is a family supported throughout the year to cover costs such as Christmas presents, school supplies, and Thanksgiving dinner. The events of this committee include Pink Out/White Out game t-shirt sales, advertising districtwide Spirit Week events to the middle schools and elementaries, and Sparrow fundraising events such as the Father/Daughter Dance, Coin Drive, and Sparrow Basketball Game fundraiser.

Image of 2024 Father Daughter Dance from GPHS Leadership

Daytime Spirit Events COMMITTEE

Image of 2025 Winter Ball Spirit Week from GPHS Leadership

Student Daytime Spirit Events, often referred to as the Spirit Committee, is essentially the combination of the Spirit Committee and Student Activities Committee, and has both events and systems. The events of this committee include Homecoming, Christmas, and Winter Ball Spirit Weeks. Tasks include picking out themes, spirit counting for prizes, advertisement, and lunchtime Spirit Week activities--such as cotton candy, popcorn, popsicles, bounce houses, and more. This committee also runs spirit days and activities, including Halloween and May the Fourth Be with You. This committee also runs school day events such as the March Madness Bracket Competition, the Easter Egg Hunt, and Ro Sham Bo. They will also implement monthly school lunch activity systems next year, which will likely include a Caveman on the Shelf, where the GP caveman will be hidden in different places around the school for a month, a candy jar estimate by the bookkeeper, and Nine Square for one Wednesday lunch each month in the Quad. There are also plans for a themed monthly sticker drop advertising events around school, like football season or school dances. This committee also decorates the foyer each month for different events and holidays including Homecoming, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter Ball, Valentine's Day, March Madness, and Easter. Other systems this committee is responsible for include TV screens in the announcements (for example the Junior/Senior Game slides), creating Spotify playlists for hallway music, and creating the monthly Toilet Times flyers.

Evening SPIRIT Events Committee

Student Evening Spirit Events, often referred to as the Events Committee, is responsible for running the Homecoming dance, Powder Puff football, the Winter Ball Dance, the Powder Buff volleyball game, Junior-Senior games, and contributing to the promotional media for Prom--which is the only dance that is run by the National Honors Society. This committee is also able to execute evening activities beyond this list if they choose. Some ideas that have been proposed include a movie night, a color run, a dodgeball tournament, and bringing back the talent show. This committee could also cut events if they become widely unpopular. For the 2025-26 school year, for example, there will not be any extra dances after the lack of attendance for the 2022 Glow in the Dark Dance, the 2024 Spring Fling, and the 2024 Harvest Ball, since there was minimal profit. The events committee is the only committee without systems since so much goes into advertising, ordering decorations, hiring DJs, designing dance set-up, and more. The money raised from the larger evening events funds the expenses to throw the dances and other evening events in the future, along with fundraising the Leadership budget for the other committees' events and systems. The exception is the Junior-Senior Game series, which fundraises graduation costs for seniors.

Image of 2024 Spring Fling Dance from GPHS Leadership

Hype COMMITTEE

Image of 2024 Football Season from GPHS Leadership

The Hype/Community Building Committee is the only entirely system-based committee, focusing on participation and involvement for already in-place events such as sports games, PAC events, and club meetings--with promotion through social media, flyers, video announcements, and decorating the student section for football and basketball games. This committee also has the most involvement in creating the video announcements via "The Cave"-- the weekly section that advertises school events-- sport recognition segments, PAC promotion, adding the school week calendar, student/organization achievement shoutouts, and adding club segments. Video announcements include tasks of script writing, recording, and finding participants. Committees are responsible for their own edits. A Leadership student from any committee can receive volunteer hours for piecing together edited segments. Hype is also in charge of the 5-Star App advertisement, free 5-star giveaway (which is usually popcorn or cotton candy) and the 5-star leaderboard. This committee is also in charge of updating the school calendar and bulletin boards.

all Student Body and Class Officer Elections

All student body officers are students in the GPHS Leadership class. The elections occur this year on May 28, 2025, with the exception of freshmen officers, who are chosen from the Intro to Leadership class and will run their campaign at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. The class officers include a president, vice president and secretary from each grade. The all-student-body (ASB) representatives are typically made up of seniors. The duties of class officers and ASB are to represent the student body in district meetings and other forms of schoolwide decision-making. The ASB and officers plan Freshmen Orientation at the beginning of each school year and Senior Class Presidents are in charge of class reunions as adults. The campaign is done by video and the elections are sent out via Google form. The winner is decided by 1/3 student popular vote, 1/3 Leadership recommendation, and 1/3 teacher vote.

GPHS Leadership grants students the freedom to create, design, and initiate events at the high school. It also gives them opportunities to work with the community, D7 school, and the Sparrow Clubs. Class and ASB officers have the opportunity to represent the student body in decision-making. Leadership applications are out every school year in Apr. for anyone interested in being part of the planning and execution of events at the high school.

Sources:

Interview with Bryce Sanborn, 2025-26 Assemblies Committee Leader
Interview with Lauren Pratt, 2025-26 Community Service Committee Leader

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