How California student leaders didn’t let coronavirus kill their state conference
The coronavirus outbreak may have closed their schools, but California student leaders aren’t letting it cancel their annual conference.
More than 2,500 students and advisers planned to attend the California Association of Student Leaders’ state conference this week and next in Ontario — Thursday through Saturday for middle schoolers, and Saturday through Monday for high schoolers.
But on March 13, two days after the World Health Organization declared COVD-19 a pandemic, the event was canceled.
Organizers scrambled to put together a virtual replacement, Cafe CASL, which on Friday through Sunday will offer workshops, student-led presentations, keynote speakers and more through Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Zoom.
“Transitioning to a virtual conference was challenging because the CASL State Board is not able to meet in person because we live all over California, as far south as San Diego and as far north as Rocklin,” said board member and Modesto High School junior Carson Carranza in an email interview with The Bee. “We have heavily relied on Zoom to meet in our committees to make our curriculum more online friendly.”
As students at all grade levels are being told to, “read, review and enrich” through so-called distance learning at home during the statewide schools closure, Cafe CASL can serve as a valuable tool for them and their parents, teachers, administrators and others, Carranza said.
A silver lining to going online is that it allows the free conference to reach well beyond the 2,500 who’d have been attending in person. “Since other state conferences have been canceling, other states are joining us as well, such as North Dakota,” Carranza said. “We even have leadership groups from Canada who are going to tune in.”
Students can enrich their curriculum through its professionally trained leadership lessons, he said. The program includes middle school and high school “Meet the Pros” sessions, in which California students will share what their schools do well on topics including school spirit, community service, appreciation, inclusivity and more.
Additionally, each student board member has created a 30-minute workshop on a leadership topic he or she is passionate about. Carranza’s is titled “Between the Lines” and is about learning opportunities that stem from overcoming personal barriers.
Cafe CASL is for students at any level who are interested in learning more about student leadership, who want to strengthen their leadership skills or who simply think a program topic sounds interesting, he said. “A schedule has been made and our virtual conference will be happening on our @caslfan social media platforms from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Anyone can join for the whole day, or even just a few sessions.”
Schedule information and links to the conference sessions are on www.cafecasl.com.
“Losing our in-person conference was devastating because we began planning for this in May of 2019,” Carranza said. “After hundreds of hours we spent trying to make everything run perfect, it was hard to announce its cancellation.
“CASL has so many resources for students, we know it couldn’t go to waste, and that is ultimately what led us to go virtual. The virtual conference obviously will not have as powerful of an impact as an in-person interactive conference, but we hope it will be meaningful in a stressful time like this.”
To learn more about the California Association of Student Leaders, go to caslboard.com.
