For the 2023-2024 school year, the Associated Student Body [ASB] has approved 29 new clubs. The Accolade’s cub reporters from the beginning journalism class will report on each new group in alphabetical order. For the previous ones that have already been posted, be sure to go to the Feature section.
The California Association Student Councils [CASC] has divided up California into 12 regions. Region 10 – Orange County – remains the largest of the dozen.
In an effort to represent over 5 million high school students in 58 counties in the state, this youth leadership non-profit organization based in Northern California has also assigned in each region a student president and vice president, elected by high school campuses that have a CASC-affiliated club.
Although students don’t have to be part of a CASC club to be involved in this organization, sophomore Joshua Lee said he felt it was time to establish one at Sunny Hills.
“I believe CASC is the quickest path to making a difference as a student,” said Lee, who got involved as an eighth-grader with this group through his older sister, senior Michelle Lee. “I want more people to know about this organization and all the opportunities it offers.”
Lee and vice president sophomore Kevin Hur, who also took part in proposing the club to ASB, are members of CASC region 10 cabinet outside of the club.
The cabinet is made up of 25 students from various high schools in Orange County, and members are separated into four different committees: Outreach, Development, Government and Politics and Communications.
“We have a lot of experience with CASC through our positions in Development and Outreach Committees so we felt like we could share our knowledge to people at our school,” said Lee, who is part of the Development Committee, which raises money to help fund for food, supplies and venues for the organization’s annual fall and spring conferences.
Similar to the state-wide conferences CASC provides, Lee hopes to create the same atmosphere of making bill proposals on a more local level through his club.
“I’ve been to many conferences, and I know how effective it is for students to create bill proposals,” the sophomore said. “So, I want to be able to create feasible proposals that can directly cause a change at our school.”
Lee hopes to create proposals related to better wifi connectivity at school and proper communication between parents and the school’s activities by presenting these ideas to the Fullerton Joint Union High School District [FJUHSD] board meetings.
“Starting the club was important to me because it was an opportunity that I was really excited about, but I knew that CASC wasn’t something everyone was aware about,” Hur said. “Having it finally approved [a week after the presentation to ASB] was very relieving and rewarding.”
Apart from drafting education-related legislation, CASC advocates for leadership development, which Hur also finds important within the club.
“In our club, student participation and leadership are essential for our bills to succeed,” the vice president said. “Engagement in conversations and sharing new ideas is part of the leadership skills we want our members to have.”
The club held its first meeting on Friday, Oct. 27, and had four meetings since, attracting around 35 members. During its meetings, members can expect to learn the same CASC curriculum taught during the organization’s leadership conferences and summer camps.
“In our curriculum, we learn about conflict management skills, where we go through steps to figure out how to deal with conflicts efficiently,” Lee said. “My favorite is going through the vision board which includes finding a topic, finding a vision statement, symptoms, root problems, observations, solutions, rationale, and finally a fiscal analysis to figure out how to make our ideas actually possible.”
Currently, the club is working on a mental health proposal that it plans on presenting to one of the FJUHSD board meetings later this semester. The proposal aims to improve students’ wellbeing such as increasing homework sessions during class to reduce stress outside of school.
“I think that the topic we picked is a huge deal in current times so I’m really looking forward to seeing what we will be able to accomplish in the future,” said freshman Chloe Kang, who is part of the CASC club cabinet as the outreach director.
Sophomore Cameron Kim, who found out about CASC through the club’s first meeting, expects to contribute to the club’s efforts in creating a difference in the school community.
“I’m excited to take part in all the proposals we’ll be creating and hopefully to attend future conferences that CASC holds,” Kim said.
Moving forward, Hur said he hopes to create a close community with his club members similar to his bond with the Region 10 cabinet members.
“I love all the people I’ve met through CASC and working on proposals with [the Region 10 cabinet members],” Hur said. “I just want more people to have that experience within our own club.”
The CASC club meets every other Friday in Room 72 and posts updates on its Instagram @shhs.casc. For more information, contact Lee at [email protected] or Hur at [email protected].
