Manual’s senior class officers and steering committee will host the first annual Crimson Connection senior luncheon this Thursday, March 31.
The luncheon—which will take place from 10:45 a.m. to 1:20 p.m.—will comprise small group discussion circles of 10 seniors or fewer. Led by one of 46 pre-selected student ambassadors, each group will play icebreaker games and engage in Socratic circle-style conversations.
Senior class president Neha Srinivasan (12, MST) said that the main goal of the luncheon is to foster bonds between members of the graduating class who may not know one another well.
“[The class officers] realized that even though we do all this competition, and we have these really interactive classes, we don’t take the initiative to get to know anyone outside of our friend circle,” she said. “We approached Mr. Mayes with the idea of the Crimson Connection. That way, when you graduate in May, it’s not five people you know, but instead you feel like you have a connection to both your class and the school.”
The senior steering committee was responsible for voting upon the student ambassadors, who will have full discretion over what activities they plan for their individual groups.
“Steering committee basically went through the yearbook and said all the names [of seniors],” Srinivasan said. “Anytime at least two people identified an individual as having good leadership qualities, we wrote their name down. We tried to balance the ambassadors so we would have an equal representation of the magnets. Then we did process of elimination until we got down to 46 people who we thought would represent Manual well and could handle a discussion.”
Seniors will be randomly assigned to their discussion groups upon filing into the event, an intentional decision that Srinivasan said is designed to push students outside of their social comfort zones.
Depending on the weather, the luncheon will take place either outside on the practice field or inside the large gym.
Senior ambassador Maria Martinez (12, HSU) said that she plans to prepare a variety of different activities for her discussion group.
“I am all up for games, even if they’re kind of silly,” she said. “Duck duck goose is always fun. I’ll also bring cards and other things if I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.”
Martinez said that though the luncheon is taking place toward the end of the school year, she still thinks that it will be a positive way to connect with fellow twelfth grade students.
“I know the program is kind of late in the year, and we’re already seniors, but since there’s so many people in our class, there’s no way we know all of them,” she said. “I think that this is a good program that the class officers started.”
Srinivasan said that she hopes next year’s class of seniors broadens the Crimson Connection into an initiative spanning the entire year.
“It’s starting late with our class, but hopefully the next year’s class will start earlier so everyone can get to know people before they graduate,” she said.
Because of the Thursday’s flex schedule, senior students will be missing the entirety of third and fourth block for the luncheon, and will transition directly to the pep rally at 1:20 p.m. A complete list of senior ambassadors—who will be released from class at 10:15 a.m.—can be found here.
