Meet the Seniors Seminar

Harini Devaguptapu, Staff Writer

There are many different components to high school, and there are many different paths students can take. When it gets confusing to navigate, guidance can help students head in the right direction to find what’s right for them for the future. In the recent Meet the Seniors seminar organized by the Student Library Advisory Committee (SLAC), seniors dedicated their time to helping underclassmen, giving them strategies and advice from personal experience and different perspectives.

The SLAC arranged this seminar for freshman, sophomores, and juniors to attend on Feb 22. There, students were able to have their questions and concerns about high school answered by seniors. The event was mostly student-driven, and with a Google Form, people were able to submit the questions that they wanted to ask at the seminar. 

Junior Amrin Nuha Kamaal, along with senior Aleqxus Aguba, helped come up with the details of the seminar. Kamaal explained how when they were on a call together, they “started talking about how much [they] needed advice from peers who had been through similar experiences.” 

“The conversation shifted from what we wanted to do in the past, to possible ways that we could connect underclassmen to seniors in a friendly environment to encourage contact,” she said. 

Kamaal and Aguba collaborated with SLAC and AHS Librarian Ms. Shannon Will to develop the structure of the event, to recruit panelists, promote the event to English classes, and share it on social media. 

For the seniors to prepare for the seminar, Kamaal sent the panelists the list of questions that were from the Google Form, along with topics they could cover. They also established rules for the panelists to follow during the discussions. While one senior would help announce the questions, the others would volunteer to answer. 

Questions were about what classes they could take in the future, APs, majors, college, essays, applications, and much more. 

Kamaal shared hers and the group of seniors’ motivation to host this event as it, “was to share [their] experiences in [their] past years of high school with younger students.” 

“All of us, the event organizers and the panelists alike, came to do this with the mindset of providing knowledge for the youth so that they would be equipped to tackle the challenges they may face in the future,” she expressed. “None of us had to be at this event, sharing our wisdom with younger students, and that’s what makes the experience so heart-warming for me to see and take part in. I was really proud of how people came forward out of their kindness to share their experiences with younger students.” 

Kamaal was happy with how everyone came together to offer this experience to younger students. During the seminar, she thought, “Wow, this is really great, because I was just kind of in shock that the program turned out to be amazing. The questions that were asked were amazing and we had the best audience, along with the best organizers and panelists.”  

The event was a great success, giving inspiration for future events to help students learn and be guided through high school.

 

Photos courtesy of Mrs. Will