In the age of COVID-19, schools across the nation are struggling to bring together their student body and preserve the pride within each class in high school. However, Loudoun County High School’s Student Council Association is working day after day to connect the community, despite the distance between each individual.

SCA is an ambitious group of leaders at LCHS, and takes the form of a student authority government, with each member being elected in the springtime to serve for the following year. This assembly of class officials is the foundation of the majority of school events and has the duties of annually putting together a variety of school-oriented activities, such as homecoming week, powderpuff games, tailgates, spirit days, pep rallies, and fundraisers.

“Our operation normally consists of many events we bring to County, and even just small projects that contribute to uniting the classes, like our PEER projects,” said junior Kenly Howerter, SCA news anchor and member of the communication team.

The student council has had to make significant adjustments to suit this year’s differences and changes. This alteration has eliminated numerous plans and typical schools events, yet they are figuring out brand new ways to bring back the excitement of schoolwide participation. The assembly’s goal is to normalize this year as much as possible and keep the high energy.

“SCA’s objective during this unprecedented time of distance learning is to engage students as much as possible and boost school spirit virtually,” said junior Charlotte Penberthy, spirit committee member. As of now, LCHS cannot do powderpuff, sports, and multiple in-school projects, like decorating the halls. Although, recently SCA is implementing weekly challenges students can participate in and earn class points; spirit days are also being incorporated each week and class points are tracked publicly throughout Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter.

With virtual communication, challenges are bound to occur in the process of adaptation and SCA has endured multiple setbacks within the start of the year. The team has expressed the difficulty getting the student body opinions to the faculty because of the online barrier. The chaos of separation has also been a contributing factor; SCA, as a club, only meeting at the end of the week to plan certain events and projects has led to less accommodations with connecting distancely.

“We are trying our best to make sure our student body feels as comfortable as possible with this new normal, especially the freshman,” said SCA news anchor junior Nathan Gribbin said. “We want them to know what they are doing and feel welcome because being brought into an environment where they can have a real human interaction isn’t an option at the moment.”

Despite the obstacles the student government faces, the staff has already accomplished several projects and enterprises, like the newly painted class rocks, informative morning announcements, High School 101, and organization of the school mascot, Each activity is a form of normalization to the 20-21 school year.

“High school 101 was different this year because of the virtual aspect, however it maintained a welcoming atmosphere to the upcoming class of 2024,” said Howerter. “Painting the school rocks was also a major accomplishment because each class could collectively decide what their rock would say and it’s a great way to help unite each grade.”

The SCA encourages students to suggest ideas for the school as a whole. Students can reach out to any member to put this into action; they are open to any recommendation and are hoping to hear from each other to uplift and strengthen the school community.

“We’re all taking things one step at a time, bringing new opportunities to the table, and we all hope we’ll be back in school soon to further function at full capacity,” said Gribbin. “Keep your pride full of hope, and your head high because we are all focusing on the bright future our school family anticipates on in the upcoming months.”