Ridgeview High School held its first Connection Project this year bringing together staff and students to help evolve the community on campus. The Connection Project was held November 5th and 6th in the school gym. Students were able to sign-up and participate in the fun activities that were held throughout the two days. The project helped reach out to students and help the overall betterment of the campus at Ridgeview.
The idea of the Connection project was to help students around the school and reach out to help them build a connection with other students on campus. The Connection Project has made its way around the Kern High School District, but for the first time was headed to Ridgeview. The announcement was made to students to sign-up and that anyone and everyone was welcomed to join on fun events being held. Students were either assigned day one or day two to join the Connection Project in the gym where different activities were happening to help further connect the students. Jocelyn Olivas, a senior at Ridgeview High School was asked to be a leader during the Connection Project, “Mrs. Barnes reached out and my role was to be a Connection leader and we hosted the individual games at the project.”
Reymundo Marquez was another volunteer at the Connection Project helping lead activities explaining, “These activities were games that were based on getting to know each other such as a game… we also had to discuss where we talked about our pack values.” The Connection Project hopes to have an overall positive impact to the students who participate in the day and to take what they’ve learned and apply it to their everyday lives on campus. When asking Marquez how these activities will be integrated onto the campus and reach students that didn’t participate in the Connection Project. “These activities will hopefully reach multiple groups and is enough to cause a change in the overall campus environment.”
Olivas explains her experience at the Connection Project to have helped her and her involvement with the campus. Olivas said, “It really helped people open up about the school and talk about how they feel, and just really be vulnerable.” Robert Shahan, a teacher volunteer at the connection project described the overall experience saying, “It was a great first step towards building a more connected campus.”
The Connection Project was a great experience and complete success for students and staff on campus. Watching the Pack come together for an amazing two days with hopes to bring the Connection Project back to campus!
