Leadership is an opportunity to gain friendships, develop creativity, and become responsible. “You learn a lot about becoming a leader and responsibility,” said one leadership student who wishes to remain anonymous. But besides the happiness, they may encounter some challenges.

Nothing is better than an entire class having a tight bond with each other. “You make friendships that you couldn’t be able to make with other people,” said the same source who is a freshman in the leadership class of 2017-18.

Every single one of my sources described leadership as being more than friends, but becoming family to each other.

“You get closer to a lot of different people and it grows to be a leadership family,” said Gladys Bernal, a freshman at GHS.

However, leadership does have its downsides. It starts to put a lot of stress on students. For example, the big events like homecoming and prom start to take up a lot of time and results in the class. They start to become stressed out about it turning out perfectly.

Homecoming seems to be the most stressful on the students. One of the cons of this is having to cancel plans to get these type of events done. Not only that, but the preparation for HOCO starts during the summer because of how much work and effort is put into it. This can have an effect on them because they will have very minimum time for other priorities.

“Hallway set up is stressful because there are only 2 hours to get it done, which seems like a lot but really isn’t,” stated another anonymous source.

Setting up all of the halls is done the day before and help is received from volunteers to get some community hours, but sometimes it could turn out to not be enough time, engaging in a lot of stress.

You can also start to get very busy. Leadership makes it hard for students to do sports, be in a club, and sometimes even homework. Not only that, but time is taken away from seeing friends and family. On the other hand of this, “It keeps you active so you’re not wasting time doing nothing at home,” Bernal stated.

And have you thought about the arguments that could break out among the class? One of the anonymous sources that I interviewed had said, “It’s always a competition to see which class can make the best posters and all that.” This can have a bad outcome because they will start to feel compared.

Besides all of the homecoming troubles and business, being in this class helps you contribute to the school in many ways. Leadership is very important at Gunderson.

“You have a relationship with the school since you’re there 24/7,” said Bernal.

You also get a majority of the input on the events that the school holds, such as the rallies, which is fun because if you have ideas then it will all contribute to the events.

Courtesy of Christopher Corbin

Because of this, it could start to develop creativity. For example, it could establish through having to create posters and decorations for advertisement like the spirit week days. “In my opinion, it does develop because personally I’ve been getting new ideas that we can incorporate during lunch activities,” said Bernal.

Another pro is being able to be helpful to others. “Yvonne Le passed away and leadership decided to make a week where things are sold and every dollar made goes to her dad,” said another anonymous source. This shows how much the leadership class cares about one another how it makes you a better you.

“Leadership has been very welcoming,” said Charlotte Campbell, another freshman. Being part of the leadership class seems to be very fun and helpful. Although things can start to get hectic throughout the school year, what better way to make unforgettable memories and friendships and at the same time being involved with the school?