Written By: Brian Alvarado
The 2022-2023 school year start has officially commenced with the brand-new Junior Class Committee. The council is as follows: Matthew Palma (President), Ava Osorio (Vice-president), Nataly Garcia (Treasurer), and Samantha Munoz (Secretary).
The most remarkable thing about Matthew Palma is his dedication towards the Class of 2024.
As the head of the council, he has an important role in the planning and budgeting of the brand prom at the end of senior year. On raising money this year, Matthew commented, “Our goal this year is $10,000. We were originally thinking $5,000, but I thought that might be a bit miniscule. So why not go big?”
It’s clear he’s ambitious about raising more and more money in order to go all out for the class’ Senior Prom. Matthew recognizes it can’t be all done by the class committee, though: “My goal is to make sure the class pays less for prom. The only way that is achievable is if we work together to raise more money. This is a group effort.”
Working together is a common theme in the council’s responses. Similar to Matthew’s remarks, Nataly Garcia stated, “I feel like more people need to get involved and help out with our class committee.” Only with the support and efforts from our students will we be able to plan big for the Class of 2024’s senior year and all the events encompassed in it.
The council has been up-and-running, operating for weeks now. They’ve been striving to create new ideas to help support the Class of 2024. Last year, the Class of ‘24’s committee was able to raise approximately $1,200 from bake sales alone.
“Right now it’s the time to make ideas. Later on, we’ll execute these ideas. If they don’t work out, we’ll do better. If they do work out, we’ll repeat them as we did with the bake sales last year,” Matthew said. The council is ambitious in doing something substantial to raise more money. Other fundraising ideas discussed include but are not limited to raffles, candy grams, movie nights, and charitable sporting events.
On the topic of new ideas, the council has decided to omit the Junior Prom they initially intended to plan for. The Junior Prom had taken place at PCHS in previous years and was going to be an event again, but seeing as many weren’t enthusiastic for the plan, the idea was placed on hold. Instead, the committee is hoping to focus on aggrandizing the class’ Senior Prom.
The council was able to make this decision through the feedback they received from polls on their newly-created instagram account, @pchs_24. This account is managed by the council and will be useful in generating new ideas and excluding unwanted ideas. The council encourages students to interact with the account in order to make high school the best experience possible for every student.
Speaking about his fellow student council members, Matthew shared, “Ava, Nataly, and Samantha are all great eager individuals when it comes to what we do. They’re always on top of things and they’re always happy to help.” Matthew is glad to be able to work with a great group of people who care about the class just as much as he does.
These four are determined to help the class out in any way they can. The Class of 2024 will support the council in participating and helping out in events hosted by the committee. With the help of the council and even moreso, the students, the Class of 2024 will be a year to remember.