The Reach Out Commission reintroduces team-structured activities to their monthly hangouts in order to engage participants and create meaningful student connections.
Reach Out is a commission in Carlmont’s Associated Student Body (ASB). Their mission is to create a welcoming setting for all students including those involved in Independent Living Skills (ILS) and the Social Adjustment Class (SAC) program.
“We plan a comfortable environment, whether that is games, movies, food, and all that stuff, just to make sure that people have an environment where they feel comfortable,” said Rohan Haldankar, ASB President and former Reach Out commissioner.
In the past, Reach Out integrated activities for students to connect through their hangouts. Nevertheless, the commission concluded that often, the gathering led to the same students hanging out with each other, preventing students from branching out and meeting others.
“Last year, it was up to people to decide how to socialize and interact, but that can sometimes lead to cliques and things like that,” said Anya Chitlangia, the Reach Out Facilitator.
The commission intends to incorporate group activities where students are encouraged to work together to strengthen this sense of community and make new connections.
“Our main objective is to create one or two activities where we have people in teams and people are encouraged to work together,” Chitlangia said.
A safe space is created through games, low-stakes competitions, sports-related events, and other forms of entertainment.
“The team building activities are the most effective, like when they do Jeopardy, or when they do things where people are forced to team up with people they may not be as comfortable with right away. We all tend to gravitate towards people we’re more comfortable with, and this forces them to divide and conquer,” said Justine Hedlund, a SAC Teacher at Carlmont.
Improvements and adjustments still need to be made, but the commission is taking strides in the right direction.
“I think it’s a work in progress to get it. I think we’ll work as a team with Reach Out and get it moving. We’re moving forward,” Hedlund said.
