To create engaging new content for the Student Council Instagram account, Public Relations Co-Officer Jo Gyawali (12) spends her halftimes conducting short interviews with students in all grade levels at every home football game.
The idea for the interviews, titled “STUCO Ambush Interviews,” stemmed from watching videos on social media of student council pages from other schools. From there, she purchased mini microphones and pitched the idea to the rest of the PR officers.
“I really wanted to have students connect through [the interviews], [and] to have a segment where all grade levels could answer the question and be featured on the [account,]” Gyawali said.
Gyawali plans out the questions beforehand, one of which was discussed at the STUCO meeting Oct. 23. The question, “Who’s a senior that you want to shout out for senior night,” is in relation to the senior night football game Oct. 24.
“[I like to choose] something cute and quick, so just anything that would relate to what’s happening right now at the school,” Gyawali said. “So there’s been a lot of senior nights and college applications are coming up, so I wanted to ask a question about that.”
After each interview is filmed, Gyawali uploads the videos to Capcut, where she edits each clip together to create the final post.
“I have an intro already edited that I created that I use at the beginning of every video, and I just splice the clips together to make the most sense and to make sure the audio all sounds good,” Gyawali said. “Then I add captions to the video so that they’re easier to follow, and then I put a non-copyrighted song over [the video], add an ending on it, then I upload it.”
Initially, the videos were created as a way to keep the STUCO account active, but the purpose has quickly become a new source of student participation and community.
“A lot of times people are afraid to participate in things at school for fear of embarrassment,” Gyawali said. “Having it just be a short, quick, question-answer segment really eliminates that fear, especially since it’s just sprung onto them in the moment. I find that a lot of people really do want to participate and have a funny and witty answer and be recognized for that, but a lot of times don’t really get the opportunity.”
Gyawali plans to work alongside her co-chair, Eric Hurt (12), to continue the STUCO Ambush series until the end of the school year. The series is also arranged to be continued by the junior PR officers next year. Even more, STUCO’s large committee and budget provides more opportunities for student inclusion and participation like the interviews.
“We recognize that a lot of students want to have fun things during the school year, so [we’ve been] planning for more spirit weeks, maybe even a field day for seniors,” Gyawali said.
