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Student Council Supports TGS From Home

With campus closed and students learning online at home, it would have been easy for the Student Council to just stop working. “What could we possibly do?” they might have said. “There’s no one on campus and no one to support.” Fortunately for all of us, STUCO did not do what was easy. Instead, members maintained their commitment to The Gregory School community and through three podcasts and a video, created an entertaining, funny, sweet community-building experience.

Leo Gruenstein ‘21, who worked on the music podcast, credits STUCO president Philip DuBose ‘20 with the initial concept. “He came up with the idea of making podcasts as a way to better connect with the student body while we are all away from one another,” Leo said.

The Student Council Playlist
The students devised four topics that they thought would be of interest to all TGS students: music, movies and tv shows, interviews with teachers, and interviews with seniors. The senior interviews are done on video and the rest are audio files.

Of course, the students couldn’t interview everyone or cover every type of entertainment, so this took some careful decision making. For example, James Knepler ‘23, (teacher interviews) explains, “The most difficult part (for my group) was choosing which teachers (to interview), as we didn't have time for too many of them. So we had to think about whose life might be the most different during this time, or someone who both middle and high schoolers know so that it would attract both groups.”
Teacher Interviews
In addition to entertaining The Gregory School community in general, STUCO members also saw this project as an opportunity to offer extra support. Juliet Herrick ‘23 (senior interviews) said, “While I was excited about being creative and making a piece of entertainment for the student body, what motivated me the most was that I was making this for the seniors of 2020, who don't really get to finish off their high school experience the way they'd imagined. So, I hoped this would be something for them especially, that they would enjoy either being a part of or watching their friends and classmates be in.”

The project also gave the STUCO members new experiences and skills that they weren’t anticipating. “Typically, I don't talk about music, I just listen to it,” Leo said. “It was a little weird having to talk about a particular song in-depth for a minute, so that definitely took a little practice.”
Movies & TV Shows

And Juliet got to hone her video-editing skills: “It took me maybe four nights of only five hours of sleep to get it done. It took a lot of time and concentration but it was all worth it in the end.”

Student Council president Philip DuBose '20 summarized the project well. "Something needed to be done for the students in a time of disarray and isolation," Philip said. "It is important to be a strong community right now, so I feel as though this was something needed: one last memory for the TGS community before the 2020 school year closes. Also, I'd like to give a special shoutout to every single STUCO member for working hard and staying together amidst these circumstances. Thank you for an amazing year." 

And finally, from James, “ I would just want to add, 'thank you' for all the teachers for keeping school going!”

Senior Interviews