Latest / Inside the OSD / S4 E3 - Homecoming Festivities Ft. FFA, Student Council, and the Parade Marshal

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S4 E3 - Homecoming Festivities Ft. FFA, Student Council, and the Parade Marshal · Inside the OSD

• 0:06
  SPEAKER1: Homecoming is an eagerly anticipated event in the OSD community, and this year promises a week filled with exciting activities.
• 0:15
  Both staff and students at Oregon High School play a vital role in ensuring a memorable experience for everyone.
• 0:22
  Join us today as we speak with a few of this year's event organizers, and get the inside scoop on what is planned for next week.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:36
  Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER1: I'd like to start by doing some introductions for our listeners.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER3: Um, I'm Geneva Gasner, I'm a sophomore, and I'm part of the FFA.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER4: I'm Miranda Mortensen. I am a senior and I am part of the FFA.
• 0:58
  Thanks. My name is Caroline Canney. I'm a senior and I'm the vice president of student council.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER5: Thank you. And I'm Olivia Olson. I'm a senior, and I'm the president of student council.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER6: Hi. And I'm Mrs. Dunn. I'm an administrative assistant here at the high school where I support the main office,
• 1:13
  our principals and students in the student service office.
• 1:17
  And I'm also excited to be back as the parade coordinator.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER1: That is exciting! I'm glad that you're doing that.
• 1:24
  So let's dig into some of these details, okay?
• 1:26
  So we'll start by going to our students.
• 1:30
  And we'll start over here with our students from FFA.
• 1:33
  Give us a rundown of what you've been planning and how it's going.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER4: We have been planning a food drive for the community.
• 1:40
  So we are getting the whole community together, including all the elementary schools,
• 1:45
  the middle school, the intermediate school and the high school. And we're also going to have three drop out--drop off sites throughout the community at both
• 1:53
  fire departments --the Brooklyn, the Oregon one, and then the library.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER1: Wow! All right, so what tasks are each of you doing with this and how do you fit it all into this really busy schedule next week?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER3: Um, I have a lot of, like, connections with the food pantry, so I've been helping, like, coordinate,
• 2:11
  um, like, different things that we need from the food pantry in order to make this successful and then just helping everyone out.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER4: Um, I've been in charge of--I made all the phone calls to the places in the community to see who would take drop off boxes.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER7: Oh, wow.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER4: Over the summer. So we got that all done, and now we're just collecting boxes so we can put them out in the community now.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER1: Oh, it has to help so much that you started this summer.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER7: Yeah.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER1: That's great. That's less pressure on you right now because so many of the logistics have been planned.
• 2:39
  So what are you most excited about for homecoming next week overall?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER4: Seeing the community show up.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER7: Yeah.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER3: I think just being able to know that we're helping the community in a positive way.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER1: Well, I love both of your answers. And what have you learned from this planning experience?
• 2:57
  And then what skills do you think you'll take with you in your future after having done this?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER4: Um, a lot of people aren't the nicest over phone calls, and it was really hard to just get through to people because some of them just
• 3:11
  didn't really want to listen to everything.
• 3:14
  But some were like, really nice and like, "yeah, let's just do it."
• 3:18
  SPEAKER1: All right. So it took some perseverance, basically.
• 3:21
  Okay.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER3: Um, I think just realizing, like how many people this whole thing takes and how many people you have to reach out to and plan with and organize with.
• 3:28
  And just like the communication skill, getting to get comfortable with, like a lot of communication with different people.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER1: Absolutely. And you pointed out something that's really important.
• 3:38
  And that is so many people in the community have a part in this and take part in enjoying this,
• 3:44
  right? So that's one of the exciting things about it.
• 3:48
  Um, I will turn to our student council reps.
• 3:50
  And can you tell us a little bit of the rundown of what you've been planning and how it's been going?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER5: Yeah. So our plans consist of creating committees.
• 3:59
  So we have a committee for powderpuff, which is the boys volleyball games that are hosted the Wednesday of the upcoming week.
• 4:05
  Um, we have the tickets committee. They sell all the tickets because we're in charge of the dance, which is obviously really exciting.
• 4:11
  Um, we also play in the pep rally, which is a big part of it.
• 4:14
  The entire pep rally. We do, um, we partner with the FFA for the food drive and helping them with whatever,
• 4:20
  um, wherever they need us. Um, and we also plan the Connections lessons for, um,
• 4:25
  the whole school, which is also exciting and just advertising.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER8: Oh my goodness, that is--that's a lot! Yeah, that's a big, long list.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER1: So for each of you, what tasks are you involved in directly with the planning and how do you fit it all in?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER5: Yes. So, um, back in May, we vote on the theme for the homecoming dance as a student council.
• 4:46
  And then the executive team, which is Caroline and I and two other members.
• 4:50
  We all get together in August to make the committees.
• 4:52
  So we put some leaders and we figure out who would work best with each other to work on each committee.
• 4:58
  And then from there, we just have had weekly meetings, and it's a great way for us to keep each other organized.
• 5:04
  And it takes a lot of work with administration and our advisors--our advisors, and also the community members.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER1: And similar to FFA, you started early. Yeah.
• 5:13
  And that makes a big difference. Yes. How about you?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER9: Um, yeah. So I we've each every member of the exact team has kind of been in charge of two committees.
• 5:22
  Um, you know, I was put in charge of the tickets and Connections committee. So really just overseeing those.
• 5:27
  And luckily, we have a lot of members of student councils who have been super helpful in helping us plan this all.
• 5:32
  So even though we do have lots of things we need to get done, we also have a lot of support,
• 5:35
  which is great.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER1: Oh, I appreciate all the leadership that you have spread throughout so that it's,
• 5:41
  you know, no one person has to carry the whole thing, right?
• 5:45
  That's really exciting. So what are you excited about for next week?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER9: Um, I'm definitely really just excited to see all the things we've been planning come together and actually come to fruition. Because yeah, we've been planning
• 5:56
  it for at this point, like a little over a month. So it'll be really cool. I mean, also just getting involved as a senior just because it's our last, it's,
• 6:02
  you know, my last year. And so, you know, I know a lot more about all the things happening too,
• 6:06
  just because I'm a senior and I've been in charge of all the planning. So just really getting involved and soaking it all in because, you know, this is really
• 6:13
  like the last time that I'll have an experience like this. And, I mean, I don't know if there's really anything else like a high school
• 6:17
  homecoming, especially in Oregon, because we do really take it pretty seriously here.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER1: You do it well. You do it well. Were you surprised at how much work actually goes into pulling off all of these events?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER9: Um, I mean, not super surprised just because we have had experience, you know, helping out with homecoming in the past.
• 6:34
  Um, but it has, you know, it's definitely a lot of work.
• 6:37
  And it's definitely, you know, definitely--I've appreciated all the work in the past,
• 6:42
  um, that, like, past presidents have put into making homecoming a success.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER1: Terrific. So, um, how about you, Olivia?
• 6:47
  What are you most excited about?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER5: I mean, same as Caroline said. And we're also emceeing the pep rally.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER1: Oh, you are! Exciting. Oh, so you're both going to have a microphone in front of a thousand plus people?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER5: Yes. Yeah, I'm really excited about that.
• 7:01
  That is exciting. Yeah. The exec team, we're like a really close group.
• 7:05
  So it's just exciting that we're all getting to do that together and experience our last homecoming together.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER1: Oh, that's really nice. So what have you both learned from planning these experience--experiences and then what specific skills do you think you're going
• 7:18
  to take forward into your future based off of that?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER9: Yeah, I mean, just like I really learned like the importance of clear communication. So everybody's on the same page because I mean, kind of like how
• 7:27
  our FFA members touched on, um, there are a lot of like, moving parts and all of this and a lot of people involved in making homecoming
• 7:34
  success. So just really clearly communicating and making sure everybody making sure everybody's on the same loop.
• 7:39
  And then also just the importance of time management, um, to really make sure that everything gets done when it needs to be done.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER1: Okay. Those are important things to carry forward.
• 7:47
  So that's great. How about you?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER5: I agree with that. And I think the importance of also like living in the moment. And just like, it's a lot to take in, like it's a lot to do of course, but also
• 7:56
  just making sure, like it's such an opportunity for us to be able to run student council so.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER1: Well and the opportunity to enjoy it. Right?
• 8:02
  Like, I hope that you both really are able to live in the moment next week when all of these things are happening and soak it all up,
• 8:09
  because this is your last homecoming at Oregon High School.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER5: Yeah.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER1: Yeah. So one of the significant events that draws residents from around the entire community,
• 8:21
  it's really fun to see is the homecoming parade.
• 8:24
  And we're really fortunate to have this year's parade marshal slash coordinator with us today.
• 8:30
  So, Miss Dunn, can you share with our listeners what they can expect during this year's parade?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER6: Sure. So, um, right now, the biggest change to this year's homecoming parade is really our new route.
• 8:41
  Um, this route needed to happen, um, due to the adjustments and ongoing construction on Oak Street.
• 8:48
  Right. Um, so we will be sharing an updated map with our families, schools, communities,
• 8:55
  so everybody knows the best spots, really to watch the parade, because this is such a great big event where we bring a lot of people into town.
• 9:02
  Yes. Beyond that change, the parade really is a super fun tradition here at Oregon High School,
• 9:09
  and it really celebrates our schools and our community spirit.
• 9:13
  Um, and it's a super special time. And as everybody just said around the table, um,
• 9:19
  it's a super fun time here. And it's a great way to see how it all comes together.
• 9:23
  And the parade is is a great way to bring everyone here in town together.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER1: It is! When I first came to Oregon, well over 20 years ago now, I was absolutely astounded by the homecoming parade experience and all of the
• 9:37
  community members who put their chairs up early and are there to support and cheer and wave.
• 9:43
  And it was it's really something. So I know that coordinating this is a huge undertaking.
• 9:49
  So why is it important for you to serve in this role?
• 9:52
  Um, above and beyond all the other things you already do as part of your job?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER6: So the parade itself really is a lot of logistics.
• 10:01
  And our biggest priority is the safety. But really beyond that is creating this magical kind of moment for our students,
• 10:09
  our staff, the family, the entire community and all coming together.
• 10:13
  So I really think that's one of the most special things about the parade itself.
• 10:18
  For me, it's self serving. As, um, the parade coordinator also brings me a lot of pride.
• 10:24
  I'm an Oregon grad. I've seen a lot of parades, so it really is a special time.
• 10:30
  Yes, it's a lot to coordinate working with all the schools.
• 10:34
  Um, thinking about the bussing, uh, working with our community and bringing everybody together.
• 10:40
  But honestly, seeing everybody's smiles, the cheering really makes it all worthwhile.
• 10:45
  So yes, it's a lot of work, but it is a super great fun day.
• 10:48
  And yeah, it's very exciting. So go Panthers!
• 10:52
  SPEAKER1: Absolutely. You know, it's like everything else in education.
• 10:55
  Yes, it's a lot of work but it's so worth it.
• 10:57
  Yes, yes. So as we wrap up, um, what else do you want to make sure to let our students,
• 11:04
  our families and our community know about homecoming next week and what they can do to help make it a success,
• 11:10
  and I'll open that up to any of you.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER9: I mean, just that, you know, just going to be a great, great time for everybody involved.
• 11:17
  Um, and just, you know, really make sure that if you can involve yourself to do that because,
• 11:21
  you know, I again, like I said, I don't really think there's anything else like a homecoming.
• 11:26
  So yeah.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER1: I agree with you on that.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER3: Um, yeah. Kind of what she said. Like, um, the homecoming is just a great way to even if you're not like in school,
• 11:35
  just to involve yourself with the community. Like, there's a lot of opportunities that you can do to help out the community.
• 11:40
  And I think it's a really great way.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER1: Thanks for that reminder, I agree. Homecoming week is next week, September 29th through October 4th.
• 11:50
  Our community is invited to join us on Friday, October 3rd for the Homecoming Parade,
• 11:56
  which begins at 1:30 p.m. and for the homecoming game, where the Panthers take on Monona Grove at 7 p.m.
• 12:03
  in Panther Stadium. Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at
• 12:13
  OregonSD.org/podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 12:21
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 12:27
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.