On Friday, May 20th, the GHS Student Council (StuCo) hosted the annual Spring Fling event, which lasted through the entirety of 7th period. Students were encouraged to go outside and explore the campus, as there were several events and games taking place. From tie dye to dunk tanks and karaoke to kickball, the event hosted a wide variety of activities that catered to all the personalities GHS encompasses. How did StuCo manage to do this? The answer is quite simple — and quite brilliant.

Student Council’s Spring Fling Committee made the decision to let specific clubs within the GHS community run the activities, rather than sticking two Student Council members at every station for 90 minutes. This gave clubs the opportunity to interpret the activities the way that they wanted to, allowing for greater creativity with how the activity was presented. For example, the GHS Tri-M Music Honor Society hosted karaoke on The Slab behind the theater. A member of the society brought in a 65 inch TV, a laptop, and the Music Department provided all the sound equipment necessary. The activity was a big hit, with many students signing up three, four, or even five times to sing.

Another example includes the dunk tank, which was a hilarious game organized by Peer Outreach. The club had to rent the dunk tank, connect with the town’s fire department to get water for the dunk tank, and ask teachers and students around the school if they would be willing to, well, get dunked. Those who got dunked included mathematics teacher Mr. Bracy, Paw Print Senior Editor Keith Sanders, and even GHS Principal Mr. McBride. Overall, the activity was a hilarious success while still advertising the existence of Peer Outreach and what they do for the community.

StuCo Senior President (and head of the Spring Fling Committee) Harrison Spalthoff commented on the triumphant event. “Spring Fling is supposed to be a [relaxed] end-of-the-year event that gets the school together one last time before summer…I would say Spring Fling was absolutely a success. The Spring Fling Committee worked tirelessly to put on this event and the feedback has been terrific.”

When asked about club involvement, Harrison had this to say: “What made it an even bigger success was the other clubs getting involved and helping us out, and we are so thankful for that. We wanted to give other clubs an opportunity to showcase their club while also helping.” Harrison also emphasized that an important aspect of StuCo is involving the entire community, and having clubs manage events was an efficient way to achieve inclusion.

Some students, though, did not think that this year lived up to their expectations left over from the 2021 Spring Fling event. One student recalled that there were “activities everywhere” with “all that energy” and that the 2022 Spring Fling was “not as fun as last year’s.”

Despite some criticism, many students said that they really enjoyed the festivities. A student who both hosted activities and participated in them remarked “everyone behaved really well, surprisingly, and I think everyone had a lot of fun.”

Harrison hopes that StuCo continues to host Spring Fling well after he has graduated. He expressed, “I hope next year’s StuCo continues to work with other clubs to find new and creative ways to make Spring Fling even better next year.” The event served as a celebration to end the 2021-2022 school year and many students speculate that this tradition will continue into next year.