“Behind the Signs”: ASB Continues As the Heart of Miner Pride

By Mikayla Moreno

Room 601 is where you will find the ASB (Associated Student Body) class of El Diamante High School. The ASB class consists of 45 students from all grade levels. Many of these students were elected into the class by their classmates or picked by the ASB teacher. Being in ASB comes with a lot of responsibilities to make sure everything runs smoothly for events. To get a deeper understanding of ASB I interviewed a couple of students to see what it’s really like.

Randy Flores joined ASB for the first time this year after being elected sophomore class president. Randy describes ASB as a “Great place to make new connections with other people.” Randy also says, “I love meeting new people that I did not know last year.”

Sophomore vice president Blake Rivas says, “ASB is really good; everyone’s like one community and one unit. A lot of things always get done because everyone’s a hard worker. ASB is a great place to be.”

ASB spends weeks preparing themes and preparation for rallies, dances, football games, etc. For rallies, ASB creates more than 50 fillers to be displayed on the gym walls. Section signs for rallies take more than two weeks to be completed. This involves lots of tracing, cutting, gluing, and exact measurements. It can be a very stressful time for ASB students as these things have to be completed before the rally.

For many freshmen, it may be hard to get out of their comfort zone to try something new but for William Synder, it was an easy decision.

Snyder says, “I decided to join ASB because I did it in middle school and it was enjoyable in middle school. I wanted to help around the school and do my part at El Diamante and I also wanted to be president.”

Snyder hopes other freshmen will decide to join the class because it will offer them new opportunities and friends like he has received. 

There are a handful of students elected into the class by their classmates. Some of the most important positions are on the executive board. The executive board consists of ASB President, Ellieana Juarez, Vice President, Micaeala Castro, Secretary, Diego Medina, Treasurer, Mikayla Moreno, Rally Commissioner, Chance Ybarra, Equality Commissioner, Ethan Griffiths, Publicity Commissioner, Mia Cortez, and Spirit Commissioner, Sophia Benevento. Each has a very important role individually in ensuring an organized and successful class. 

Rally Commissioner Chance Ybarra is the mind behind the rallies, including some of the biggest rallies like Homecoming and Battle for the Saddle. This year Ybarra not only had to plan the homecoming rally, but he was also a part of the homecoming court.

Chance says, “It’s a hectic experience it’s tough to be organizing everything while being a part of it as well, but other than that it’s been really fun. I’ve enjoyed it; I’ve always wanted to be rally commissioner and be a part of the court so it’s nice to see everything becoming a reality.”

One of the hardest things Chance has faced while being rally commissioner is writing the scripts. He says, “I face a lot of writer’s block sometimes and it’s like I don’t know where to go, it’s one of those things that I don’t know what to do.”

So how do things get planned, organized, and done promptly? Well, first of all, students are required to attend a meeting over the summer to discuss their themes for rallies and games. Then students are required to work a two-hour work day to complete signs and decorations for these events. Sometimes students must attend a workday over the weekend to complete things. During these work days, students are broken into teams for section signs, gym front decor, campus decor, loading the trailer, and many more jobs. 

ASB teaches students growth in skills such as project management, business, leadership, and teamwork. It’s a class for highly-motivated high school students to make a change for their school. High school flies by fast, so why not join a class that will keep you involved with all things throughout high school? It’s truly something special that more high school students need to take advantage of.