ASB president Emily Sehati ’24 and senior class president Scott Vreeland ’24 on the senior lawn. “ASB wants to focus on student inclusion within the ASB process and appealing to a wider array of the student body,” said Vreeland. Photo by: Ava Mohror

ASB looks into the 2023-24 school year with goals of inclusion and communication

As VHS students and faculty enter the 2023-24 school year, the new ASB leaders begin to plan out dances, spirit weeks and schoolwide events, and discuss what goals they want to focus on for the year. This year, Ann Larson remains the ASB advisor and activities director, with Emily Sehati ‘24 as ASB president and Scott Vreeland ‘24 as senior class president, along with Olivia Mobley ‘25 as junior class president and Sila Duque ‘26 as sophomore class president. 

As ASB president, Sehati leads the ASB class in discussions and coordinates information between Larson, ASB students and administration. As ASB advisor, Larson handles the behind the scenes relationships ASB has with administration and the district. 

Going into the new school year, ASB has the opportunity to make changes to the events they have planned for the year that also took place last year. “I do not see any major changes,” said Larson. While VHS will see no major changes to ASB events this year, ASB is still working to improve their events from previous years. Larson said, “We have a suggestion box outside the ASB room as well as ways to communicate through social media, and we are hoping for more student input into ways to improve.” The suggestion box allows for ASB to hear input directly from students on campus. 

“As a class, the goal is always as much school-wide inclusion as possible. School spirit is a phrase many like to use, but more importantly, [it] is the desire for ASB to help all students feel that they are important members of the VHS community. That can come in many forms: cheering at sporting events, feeling like there is ample communication about things happening on campus and in the students’ sphere of interest, knowing that all students are heard and feel comfortable here at VHS,” said Larson. 

“As a student government, our goal is the fully represent our constituents, the student body, and within that, we are making and effort to take student input and listen to the student body,” said Vreeland. This has been shown through the ASB suggestion box as well as polls conducted through the ASB Instagram account, @abs_vhs.

Going into the new school year, ASB plans to work with clubs on campus in order to unite diverse groups, making sure everyone is included and celebrated. “We have a lot of new ideas and initiatives that we want to put forward, and working with different clubs and groups on campus will help us do that,” said Sehati. 

While still striving to focus on inclusivity, Sehati has additional plans for ASB this school year. “A huge thing I wanted to bring to ASB [this school year] is the addition of more speakers and allowing students to reach more resources outside of campus. I think many of us can be limited in a classroom setting, so working with local organizations, groups, and even various speakers and role models within our community can bring unique experiences to VHS,” said Sehati. 

While ASB plans to make a few subtle improvements to their class, with goals of student involvement and inclusivity this school year, VHS students can still expect classic ASB activities, such as spirit weeks and school dances. “We are in the middle of planning our hoco and rivalry spirit weeks, which happen to be back to back. We are focused on those, but want to include many spirit days throughout the year. We are always listening for suggestions,” said Sehati.