To inform about upcoming school events, StuCo hosted its first Coyote Congress meeting of the year. At Congress, students were informed about events organized by the school, notified about clubs, and had the opportunity to ask questions to the school administration.

The session began with an icebreaker that had students form into groups and find out what they had in common.

“I thought the icebreakers were really fun,” junior Kara Date said. “I got to talk to a bunch of people I’ve never met, and we all got to connect on what we had in common, which made conversations much easier. It was nice that each group shared what they came up with, so if you didn’t get to talk to someone, you got to know something about them.”

After the activity was finished, StuCo members introduced themselves and discussed what roles they would be playing in school-sponsored events.

“Right now, we’re looking forward to selling Cane’s at Movie Night,” Junior Class President Carter Sims said. “We’re also possibly doing a junior festival, similar to Freshman Thursday or Sophomore Picnic. It’ll be something fun to bring our class together, and it gives us a little bit more money. We’re also looking to sell some different things throughout lunches.”

After introductions were over, StuCo provided a list of upcoming events, which included the following: 

• Freshman Thursday is occurring on Sept. 18.
• Movie Night is taking place on Sept. 26.
• The PA/DA Homecoming Game is on Oct. 10.
• Homecoming Dance will be held on Oct. 11.

“Right now, we’re helping the freshman class on Freshman Thursday,” Sophomore Class President Gavin Shields said. “We’ve been giving input on different planning and different ideas they can use for their event, and we’ve been focusing on helping their ideas move smoothly.”

Following the reveal of upcoming school events, StuCo then had club representatives come up and share any club updates with the attendees. This included:

• Art Club hosted their first meeting of the school year on Sept. 4.
• The Technology Student Association is planning on getting started with competitions and fundraising.
• Jam Club is preparing for back-to-school performances next month. 
• The National Honor Society is learning how to use Overview.
• SkillsUSA is practicing for competitions to prepare members for their conference in April.
• Crochet Club’s first meeting was on Aug. 28, and the board is focusing on fundraising and teaching basic skills.
• The Sonnies & Smiskis Club are sharing their collectibles, and their meetings will occur every last Friday of the month.
• HOSA’s first general meeting was on Aug. 26, which focused on general housekeeping and providing volunteering opportunities. They will also be hosting a t-shirt design contest.
• Key Club held its first meeting on Aug. 27. They went over what the club represents, and are also preparing for the Regional Training Conference.
• FBLA’s first meeting was held on Sept. 4 in the cafeteria, and the meeting focused on what they had planned for the upcoming year.
• Competitive Gaming Club had its first meeting on Aug. 26, and competitions will start next week.
• Psychology Club’s first meeting took place at the same time as Coyote Congress, and their representative mentioned that the club has an open board position and hopes to collaborate with other clubs.

“I think it’s a great way to advertise different clubs and say what we’re doing,” FBLA Vice President of Media Danica Ruiz said. “If students are there and want to attend it, it’s a good way to find out what the club is doing. If you’re not able to go to an FBLA meeting and go to Coyote Congress, I feel like it’ll give a good recap of what happened.”

Before the meeting concluded, students were given the chance to ask questions to the school’s administration about fundraising and the updated CCSD nutritional guidelines.Quote – “Clubs used to have a lot of fundraisers in the cafeteria,” Assistant Principal Cameron Roehm said. “Now they are not able to do as many due to the new CCSD nutritional guidelines. However, there are still options for clubs to do fundraising. [For example], on Sept. 3, PACE was selling spam-musubi from one of the approved vendors. The regulation also allows for two special days a month during school days. For example, the PA/DA game during the school day, clubs can sell snacks at the assembly. The regulations don’t apply to after-school activities, so as soon as 1:55 p.m. hits, the regulation ends because it’s just 30 minutes after school.”