Even with all the precautions set in place for COVID-19, students are still finding ways to voice their opinions and show student activism. 

Back when it was first announced that GlenOak would no longer have the hybrid schedule, seniors Carmyn Grubbs and Hannah Dunnerstick created the petition to keep the hybrid schedule. 

“We were both pretty annoyed and upset with the decision that was made because we enjoyed the hybrid schedule more than being in school full time,” Grubbs said.

After the news that the hybrid schedule would not continue, both Grubbs and Dunnerstick talked together in class and made the petition only two hours later.

Grubbs and Dunnerstick are not the only ones wanting to voice their opinion in the GlenOak community. Sophomore Lily Smith has been working on making petitions on matters such as the school dress code herself. 

“I’ve thought about doing things like this but I didn’t because I was shy,” Smith said. 

These two instances have not been the only concerns at GlenOak. Last year during lunch, a lot of students would go into the bathrooms in the cafeteria and stay there for the entire lunch period.

“We started limiting the amount of people who could go in at a time,” deputy principal Gayle Kimbrough said. 

This, however, led to some people being very mad at this change. Of course, those students took action and were able to sit down with Kimbrough and discuss the matter. 

Another instance that had come up was the anniversary of the Parkland shootings.

“A number of our students wanted to have a walkout to protest school violence,” Kimbrough said.

Students were not able to do a walkout because of the concern that something bad could potentially happen to the students during the protest.

However, students were able to have a sit-in in one of the gyms. The gym was very full and the event was entirely student-led. 

“We had some students go down, on the floor, and they had a mic and were speaking, and it was actually a pretty powerful event,” Kimbrough said.

There are certain ways that you should go about voicing your opinion, though, and here are some helpful tips in case you would want to change something in the future.

“You have to tailor your message to the audience,” Kimbrough said. “What you would say to your friends might be perceived differently than your parents, so you’re going to say it in a different way.” 

What Kimbrough is talking about is the presentation and the way that you go about explaining your idea. Like her example, if you were to explain something to your friend you would talk about it in a different way than you would with your parents. It is always important to work on the delivery of your idea. 

“People are more likely to get on board with something that they are presently upset about versus if they had time to calm down and think about it,” Grubbs said. 

This is pertaining to the need to act quickly. When someone gets upset about something they are more likely to make rash decisions, while if they would have had time to think through the matter they might give something like signing a petition a second thought.