Due to distance learning, usual fall spirit activities are not able to happen, so leadership and Associated Student Body (ASB) are trying to replicate the usual fall spirit activities in a virtual format. They plan to hold events to increase communication between students and implement virtual spirit weeks. ASB President Neha Bandrapalli is also focusing on the issues of injustice at Burlingame. 

“In light of current events, I definitely want to address racial discrimination in our school and discrimination against all people of color, religion, race, identity. We’re basically having another civil rights movement, so it gives us the opportunity to kind of take a step back and see where we are as a community,” Bandrapalli said. 

After several hate-based incidents transpired at Burlingame, ASB and Nicole Carter, leadership teacher and ASB advisor, have made it their priority to make Burlingame a more inclusive community. Carter wants to have conversations with students and faculty about racism, homophobia and other issues at Burlingame which have become a common thread of discourse in the community. 

“I’m doing a lot of research around anti-racism, anti-everything, whether it’s sexism, [homophobia], you know, being very vocal about our stance. I’m also going to be attending trainings and am a part of the Black Lives Matter Task Force. I hope we can really start to tackle the issues that we’re reading about,” Carter said. 

Aside from working on improving diversity at Burlingame, ASB also wants to encourage communication between students during distance learning. They are currently holding Friday activities, which encourage students to exercise or engage in creative activities and submit a photo as proof of their participation.

During the fall semester, ASB would organize events at  football games and homecoming to bring students together, but because of COVID-19, ASB is unable to hold these in-person events. Bandrapalli hopes virtual events will expand the communication between students. 

“It’s going to be a challenge to incorporate a lot of our traditional activities into this school [year], so we’re hoping to [host] some events in the spring … But for this fall, we’re trying to build more communication between the student body and leadership class. So, this is hopefully through Google Forms and emails,” Bandrapalli said. 

ASB Vice President, Elisenne Yun, hopes to work with to create activities for the student body to participate in, such as a pen pal activity or virtual friendly “speed-dating.”

“I had started working on an event where it would be kind of like a pen pal throughout our own school where you would basically get connected with someone who shares your interests, and you’d be able to interact with them,” Yun said. 

Despite the challenges of maintaining contact and school spirit during distance learning, ASB has plans to replicate the type of events students would normally see during a school year. 

“It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen before …” Bandrapalli said. “I’m definitely nervous about how it’s going to look but I’m optimistic.”