Many exciting and nerve-racking events are happening this year that we didn’t get to experience last year. As stressful as exams and competitions can be, there are still many opportunities to relax and socialize at school.

I interviewed Alicia Du, the student body president here at West. She told me about what West’s student government is planning for the rest of the year. They organize many projects, including Spirit Bowl, school dances, and assemblies. Two upcoming events include Matchomatics, a Valentine’s activity that will “pair you up with your soulmate,” and the 10 in 10, a fundraiser where, as Alicia described, “as a student body, or as a community, we try to raise 10,000 [dollars] in 10 minutes. In reality,” she added, “it goes on during the entire week, and so you know, make sure during the week in February, that we’re all trying to raise 10,000 dollars.”

Students were going to take the Reading Inventory on the 13th of January but it was canceled, along with all other in-person events, due to rising COVID-19 cases. The increase in COVID cases is also causing more complications, such as classes moving online from January 14th to January 21st. A few days after reinforcing the mask mandate, on January 12th, West reached the amount of COVID-19 cases needed for a program called “Test to Stay,” with over 2% of students testing positive for it over the last two weeks. 

“Test to Stay” is a school COVID-19 testing program. Students will receive rapid tests, and in order for any student to continue with in-person learning, they will need a negative COVID test result. Students who test positive will be sent home and must isolate for at least 5 days, until all their symptoms are gone. While a student isolates, they’ll have two days for every day they’re absent to make up for missing work. However, this only applies to students who test positive, not students that are isolating at home but aren’t tested. In order to give a student permission to test, their parent/guardian will need to fill out a form: https://c19.health.utah.gov/surveys/?s=PNKXMJXWXH. Students who aren’t tested need to quarantine at home, and cannot come back to school until they’ve quarantined for five days or tested negative. 

For now, the Test to Stay program has been suspended because the county doesn’t have the capacity to test students at all of the schools that have reached test-to-stay capacity. That’s why we had remote learning the week of January 17th. Additionally, despite peaks in COVID cases, our mask mandate has also been canceled.

January 24th is the Science Fair at West. It was originally planned for January 20th, but was rescheduled when we moved online. The winners from West will advance to the district fair in February, which is virtual. West is also offering a skiing program called Snow Blitz. The second session starts on February 8th: “Snow Blitz is an after-school ski and snowboard program designed for Jr. High and High School students for all skill levels. We offer four jam packed nights at Brighton Resort including lessons and transportation. A freestyle clinic is available for advanced riders. Rentals are optional.” (pic for more info).

Starting from the beginning of this year, all students who order school lunch will need to put in their lunch number. Additionally, assuming that we don’t shift completely online, we will have two more asynchronous days this year—February 15th and April 19th. March 4th is a non-student day, and March 21-25 is spirit week, with spirit bowl on the 24th. March 28th to April 1st is Spring Break, and there’s ACT testing the day that we come back.

Almost all of May is filled with end-of-year testing—from April 28th to May 30th, West will hold AP & IB exams. At the moment, West is in need of more exam proctors. If you know a parent, relative, or other adult who would like to help, tell them to reach out to West’s staff!

There are plenty of fun activities planned for the rest of the year. So, the next time school starts to feel stressful, take a break and enjoy them instead!