Rock and ROLLA is everywhere this year, from bulletin boards to banners to sports gear, but the real story starts long before the decorations go up.
During the end of every school year, the first job for our newly-elected Executive Board and Student Council is to develop the theme for the following school year. Despite the glitz and glam, a lot of trial and error goes on backstage to create a theme as electric as Rock and ROLLA.
“Every year, our first major task as a newly elected student council is developing a theme that communicates a particular message that our student body needs or wants to hear for the upcoming school year,” Student Activities Mrs. Figueras said, “It’s also the first time the girls get to work together in their Student Council families (smaller groups of mixed grade council members) which is also exciting and fun!”
This year the core values guiding the theme were grit, accountability, and integrity–concepts aimed to motivate and inspire our students’ character. Executive Board President Georgie Galvez-Cuesta explained that instead of letting each grade’s council propose a theme idea, the Executive Board chose a different approach. Student council representatives were divided into their mixed-grade “families” allowing members of every grade to collaborate and brainstorm theme concepts.
“We wanted to get more of a variety of responses from all grades so that each grade was equally represented,” Georgie said. “Following theme proposals, we took multiple meetings to help decide on a top two because certain themes just didn’t really fully encapsulate what we wanted to go for this year.”
The final two themes were between a video game or a music-centered theme. Our student leaders took the final vote and decided on Olla on Tour. Hearing this name, it’s obvious there would be a lot of workshopping before it was unveiled to the student body.
“It took a lot of trial and error before we really decided on doing a theme like rock and roll. We didn’t know how it could tie into all the aspects of being a student at Lourdes,” Executive Board Vice President Ali Brea said.
As Ali mentioned, the theme had to connect with all 7 pillars of what it means to be a Lourdes girl. These pillars include: scholarship, sisterhood, student life, sports, service, spirituality, success, self-development, and sports. On top of tying them together, each sector had to have a slogan that would align with rock and roll.
“Connecting the theme took a while, so finally seeing it all come together felt really good and got me excited for the new year,” senior council representative Dani Fraga said.
Following the development of the theme, the Executive Board and student council then had to design and create all the bulletin boards and banners that are now currently up around the school. In addition, they had to direct the theme video set to be unveiled at all school orientations.
“I liked collaborating with my council to cricut, cut, and decorate my focus boards; also filming the video got me excited for the theme,” junior council representative Daniella Quereteja said.
As the year kicks off, the theme is not only what is seen on the boards or banners but also a reminder of what it means to be a bobcat. To be a helpful classmate, smile at someone in the hallway, or own up to your mistakes; they all inspire us to turn up our volume on character.
In addition, it’s the product of weeks of brainstorming and planning by our executive board and student council. Their work is what brings the show to life and sets up the students for a fantastic year ahead.
