Events

Important Takeaways (TL:DR): 

• Benefits 

  • Raises money to be used in future projects such as more events or towards the SU.

  • Brings the students together for fun and enjoyable events.

• Implementation

  • In school: Advertise via social media, emails, and advertisements such as posters. 

  • Remotely: Host virtual fundraisers and advertise via social media and emails.

• Challenges

  • A lack of interest from the student body could make the implementation of these events difficult and not worth the time and effort.

  • Requires approval from administration.

  • Even Post-COVID, it is important to keep your distance from everyone.

• Solutions

  • We plan on creating exciting and engaging events along with extensive advertising to ensure the engagement of students. 

  • We plan on basing the events on what students would like to experience. This could be simply accomplished by the use of or surveys to understand the interests of the students better. 

  • Although we may not be able to hold in-person events, we can still hold online events.

Background Information

          At Stuyvesant, many events are coordinated, not by the administration, but by the Student Union and its caucuses. These events range from movie nights to dances to gaming tournaments and have a history of being very successful. Our campaign believes that it is important to host such events, not just because of the funds that they will provide, but more importantly because of the benefits they bring to our fellow students. The previous Sophomore Caucus had a great track record when it came to events, and we plan to continue and build upon these events. 

Research 

          As mentioned previously, the past Sophomore Caucus hosted many events to great success. Most famously, their GamePigeon gaming tournaments and escape room, which were both open to the entire school. Our caucus intends to continue this trend of planning and hosting fun and successful events. With everyone at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect high turn-out rates to our events. We anticipate these events becoming a way for students to interact with their peers and to escape the eternal boredom from staying at home all day, every day.

Benefits

          Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students at Stuyvesant feel alienated from each other to the point of not remembering the faces of the friends they used to see daily. With these events, new friendships can be formed, and old ones rekindled. An additional plus of having online events is the flexibility of timing. Namely, our events are not restricted to school days and after school hours. This means we can have movie nights on Saturdays, and people can join our GamePigeon contests at 2:00 A.M. if they so choose. Another benefit that comes with events are funds for our caucus. The profits from the fundraisers/events will be used for future caucus projects (e.g., Project Rainy Days). 

Implementation

          Due to the current situation, online events are going to be more common than ever before. Therefore, we plan on focusing our efforts on games and other online accessible events. In the event that we do return to school without having gone through all our planned online events, they will not be wasted as we can still continue to host these events, regardless of whether or not we are in school. In order to get the word out to students, we will utilize social media platforms as well as word of mouth. 

Challenges

          The biggest challenge in hosting such events wouldn’t be the act of hosting the events themselves, but rather student apathy. This has been a significant issue with many events at Stuyvesant, as many students don’t come to certain events because they are not interested in them. Another challenge is getting our events approved by the administration. The Freshman Caucus of the Class of ‘22 was not able to host their movie night due to administrative pushback, as mentioned in “Stuyvesant Sophomore Caucus 2019 Q&A: Tan-Torres.”

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Solutions

          We plan on solving student apathy in two main ways. One way is to use advertising and marketing is to gain traction. This can involve using social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, or using our newsletter to spread the word about new events. In addition, to make sure that we have events that appeal to the student body, we will use surveys to gain a better understanding of the events and activities that our peers are interested in. For specific events, like the Speaker Series talks, we will partner with teachers to offer extra-credit opportunities for the students that attend as well as surveying students on what speakers would interest them. Finally, in response to the administrative regulations, we will make sure to consider the administrative limitations placed on the events we hold while taking advantage of online events. That is to say, our events will not require chaperones or be limited by school hour regulations.​​