The entire school year has been affected by the Coronavirus and Student Council has been no exception. From scheduling, to rescheduling events, the Student Council had to reshape the events that Malvern celebrates each year. 

Student Council has devoted their time to making this school year the “the best one yet,” as they do every year; but this one is a little bit different. 

Ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Student Council has had to rethink their approach for school wide events and large social gatherings. 

Student Council President Fran Oschell ‘21, along with the entire executive board and class officers, are very excited about what the school year will bring. 

“We have a lot of creative and hardworking people in this year’s Student Council which has really helped in planning events,” says Oschell. 

Due to all of the protocols that have been implemented since the pandemic, having large gatherings on campus has been a very big issue when organizing events. 

“[The hardest part] is just the fact that there are limits to the amount of people we can have in a space at one time, so for a lot of our events, we are going to have to run them multiple times for everyone to get a chance to partake in them.”

While these events that we are so accustomed to having will be different, Oschell is still optimistic that this year will be filled with new and exciting experiences.

 “We will be trying to circle back around some of the events that have been cancelled so we don’t want people to think they are cancelled permanently,” he said.

One of the biggest challenges Student Council has had to overcome is planning for Homecoming. With all of the logistics that go into such a big event, it has been all hands on deck in preparing for that weekend.

“The pandemic has made planning for an event like Homecoming very difficult. We are working really hard to try and make it happen, but it is very difficult to coordinate that type of event right now,” Oschell said.

Many will often take homecoming for granted and don’t really think about all of the hard work that was put into the event. Simply having a homecoming this year is a huge undertaking, regardless of any other details or specifics. 

“There’s so much that has to be done before [homecoming] with working around all of the COVID guidelines and restrictions that we really haven’t gotten to any of those smaller details yet; right now, we are really just focused on figuring out the best and safest way to make the event itself happen,” he said.

While organizing large gatherings on campus can definitely be a challenge, there are many other opportunities that the Student Council has in the works for the future. 

“We have a lot of new projects in the works right now. One that we are looking to try and have ready to go soon is bringing Chick-Fil-A on to campus for a lunch option on certain days. We also have a couple more event ideas and dress down days are things to be on the lookout for,” said Oschell.

The school year has been quite unique, due to COVID-19 and this group of guys have had to overcome challenges that those in the past have never had.  

“There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to running events right now, so we have been using our first couple of events to try and get a feel for what things are going to look like under all of the COVID guidelines. I think we will be able to use our first couple events as a reference tool to look back on when running events in the future,” he said. 

Even though Oschell is Student Council President, he praises the Student Council as a whole for their tireless devotion to this school. 

“Along with that chemistry, we have a group of guys who are all really invested in making this year the best it can possibly be. I am very thankful for the guys I get to work with on Student Council,” Oschell said.