What Goes into Assemblies?

On Friday, February 14, Orem High held an assembly for Valentine’s Day. In the assembly, there was a wonderful presentation from an Alpine representative about shoes. After them, they had a Ping Pong toss into the infamous Penny Potty. After that, we had a humorous video clip advertising the fun events to come in the following week, including Ping Pong and Mario Kart tournaments. Overall, this assembly was quite exceptional. What made it so great?

Ashly Beardall, a student at Orem High, commented, “They’re not stupid anymore. Assemblies are so much better.” In discussion with other students at Orem High, it seemed apparent that assemblies were better because they were less cheesy and a waste of time. How did these changes happen? Nate Hopkins, the student body vice-president, explained it might be because “We spend more time practicing and preparing.”

How much more work has gone into assemblies this year? It was an amazing experience to talk with our Assembly Chair Cameron Clawson about the work that goes into assemblies. Cameron said he himself spends “twenty plus hours” on the assemblies you watch. There are many steps to come up with an assembly. “First we have to come with an idea, and then write a script and then have it approved by administration then the administration writes a contract with us then we rehearse the assembly and program the lights.” Cameron was out of breath once he was done explaining how it worked.

There are regulations when creating an assembly. Like listed above, the student council has write a script for the entire assembly. That script has to be approved by the administration. When asked if they have problems with the administration as far as the script goes, Nate said, “No, often times we are usually fine.”

But, Taggart McNeil said passing the administration wasn’t that easy. “They’re really good guys,” he said, “but we have contracts due weeks in advance.” Nate Hopkins then added, “They’re really strict. They have a lot of rules, but they all make sense. We just don’t like them sometimes…” So writing scripts for assemblies can be tough, especially to please the administration along with the student body. Both Taggart and Nate said they always try to “make sure assemblies are worth it.”

So, before you decide you want to go out to Kneaders instead of attending the assembly, remember how much work goes into these productions. People work a lot harder than they did before just to get you out of class to watch it. Cameron concluded, “We put a lot of time in, and focus a lot on the fine details that last year may have overlooked.”

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Dempsey Emery

Dempsey Emery loves to write. Her dream is to become a well known, adored author. She also has interest in journalism, and had been writing stories and creating her own newspapers since age four. When not trying to improve her writing, she is caring for children or trying to make people smile.