Spotlight of Sage Oak Prom

In this episode, High School Coordinator,  Brenda Ramirez, ASB President Gabriela, and ASB Vice President Olivia, share all the details on Sage Oak's upcoming prom.  Hear how Sage Oak students collaborate with each other and iLead Charter School students to plan a successful and memorable event.

Prom will be held at The Grand in Long Beach.

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

0:14

Well, hi there and welcome to another episode of the Sage Studio Podcast. My name is Tiffiny Webster, and today we are talking all about prom. I am so excited to be joined with two of our Sage Oak students. We have Gabriela Jager, who is our A S B President, along with Olivia Papp who is the A S B Vice President, and Brenda Ramirez, who's a high school coordinator and oversees our A S B. So welcome to the podcast. So glad you guys are here. Alright, so I know that when we start talking about prom, everybody just starts to think back to when they went to their prom and it's just always such an exciting thing to think about prom, and I'm sure you guys are starting to get excited about prom too. So tell me what is going on with prom this year? There's been a lot, I mean, what hasn't been going on with prom, it's been a lot of planning and we have at least one meeting every month and everything like that. So there's been a lot of different steps to go through. But yeah, we've gotten our decorations and our theme and our planning all done, so, really we're. we're all set until April. So we are actually a little ahead of schedule this year, which is pretty cool. Well, that is exciting. Okay, so I want to break it down. I want to have all the details. So we know the prom is coming up in April. What date is prom? Prom will be on April 29th. On April 29th. Okay. And Gabriela, where is prom going to be? This. This year, We have a very nice venue from will be held at the Grand in Long Beach. If you want to look it up, we will specifically be in the Monarch room. It's really pretty and I am very excited to have it at this location this year. Well, that sounds really exciting and very extravagant actually. So I wanted to mention that actually Sage Oak had their graduation ceremony at the Grand a couple years ago. And , so did iLead and apparently they had connections and a deposit already made and so they said, let's do it together so we can get enough people to have an event at a place like the Grand. And so we were like, yeah, let's try it. So maybe we can start having charter school proms in the future. And then it's, you know, could be several schools. So, that's kind of how it came about. I love that idea. So you guys are collaborating with another charter school, that way you can put more people together, make it a bigger event, a more grand event at The Grand. That's a really exciting thing. Gabriela, how did you feel about that idea when it was first presented to you? I was very excited about it. Cause we were going to have a big prom year, so many students are going to be able to come. And additionally because of this partnership we have a great venue. It's going to be awesome this year. That is so exciting. Yeah, I think that's a real big plus. It's it's a little bit bigger. You have more students that can be there. The venue can be a little bit more grand and it can feel like a really special high school event. Olivia, tell us a little bit about the theme. I know you don't want to give away all the prom details, but tell us a little bit about the theme this year.. So our theme is Enchanted Vineyard this year, and it's based off of, actually, if anyone wants to look it up, like Gabrielle said, it's, we're specifically going to be in the Monarch room. So we kind of just took from the room and was like, okay, well. Knowing there's little vines and all this kind of stuff going through the room that maybe enchanted garden. Oh, that sounds really beautiful So I can see why you settled on this venue. Is it going to be formal attire like you would expect with a prom. Yes, that is our dress code. So, everyone's going to be dressed up. Everyone's going to be putting on their formal attire. Are you going to have some of the things that you would normally expect with prom, like music and picture stations? Yeah, we're going to have music. We're going to have a little picture stand where we have a backdrop and we're going to have Our Sage Oak photography teacher and she's going to have all her equipment and we're going to have a backdrop and then maybe a couple like little decorations around it and stuff like that. So we can have pictures in that room and we're going to have music, we already have our dj. We also might have a Spotify playlist later just to put request in, mix that all in so everyone can have their own special song they want to think of or hear at a dance too. Which is also, I kind of have noticed, opens people up a lot more. When. Music and stuff like that. So I'm excited for that. That's always fun to see everyone's music taste as well. I love that idea. So fun. Okay. That Spotify playlist idea is so good. Plus it's, so Sage Oak, bringing in the personalization even to prom. It's Hey, we even let you pick your own songs that you want to hear at your prom. So that's pretty cool. Gabriela, what part of prom are you looking forward to the most? I always love the dancing. So I'm really excited. Like I said like being able to choose your own songs so everyone gets excited. Just being with a whole group of people having fun for prom, that's my favorite part. Yeah, that will be a lot of fun. How about you, Olivia? What are you looking forward to most? Probably just seeing all my friends and just yeah, I was going to say dancing. Of course you can't, you know, you can't leave dancing out of prom in the music Yeah, just hang out with my date to my friends and just all the games, I'm excited for that too, if we're going to have a couple games outside on the lawn and we're also going to have food and desserts and drinks, so that'll be pretty cool too. So cool. Okay. And you touched on a good point that I was going to bring up too. A lot of students might feel like, oh, I'm in this independent study program. Yeah, I see kids, you know, here and there online, but I'm not sure if I go to prom, I'm going to know anybody. How can you help kids feel comfortable about knowing that when they get there that they're going to be able to meet up? Oh yeah. So we have about 10 tables in the main area and then a couple other small tables to put your drinks on and stuff like that. But it's kind of 10 main tables and., it's like a whole spread out thing. So when I was there last year, we had, I think around the same amount of tables and there were extra tables and you know, extra tables put out and smushed together and extra chairs all, you know, kind of around this one table. I was already way too crowded and stuff like that. So people were already getting together and, you know, trying to talk and everything like that. So it's not, I never saw. certain, I mean, of course people were with their friends, but there was never any really cliques, I guess, or like and nobody alone. And someone was always having fun and out on the dance floor, you know, even when you put your stuff down on this table and so does this other group of people you get to talking and stuff like that. So it's never been like, oh, okay, this is awkward. I know. Four people. Okay, that's fine. And then like you're going to meet new people, and especially with this other other school, you're going to find even more people. And so Yes. Right. That's such a good point. You are not going to be the only person showing up that may not know everybody in the room. In fact, most people are not going to know, have the other half of people. Exactly. Because it's a collaboration. Right. Our ASB is so goodabout making sure that they include kids that might be wherever we are, you know, they will pull in the ones that seem to be standing aside. And I've seen that at prom as well, you know, let's, because everybody's a little shy and Yes. You know, like you said, you don't know anybody, but you're putting yourself out there by coming to a big event like this. And at the end of the night, the best part for me is just watching them have a blast and making new friends and being together. And I think that's, it's. So great. It's just great. Yes, I think so. I think that is definitely going to be a fun thing. And I would say because you are often working from home, it's going to be even more fun to actually get together in person with other kids who share that same experience with you, who just get to have a fun night out, all dressed up, hanging out with other high schoolers, having a good time. Olivia, I know that you oversee a lot of the events within our A S B in general. So tell me about some of the like just a little bit deeper about some of the planning. With prom, yeah, with all of our students in our prom committee are really great, including Gabriela . So they're all really fun and we've all been really collaborative and sharing our screens. And on discord we have our own little discord server. So being like, okay, what about, even though we're not in a meeting okay, I found this, what do we think? And we're putting it to a vote and you know, using little emojis or whatever. And yeah, it's just been really collaborative and that everyone has had such great ideas and we've been pulling different inspirations from different things like okay with this theme. So we're like, okay, well what if there was in this one movie or this reminds me of this, so what if we kind of did it in that kind of style? So yeah, just a lot of different ideas and collaboration. And we have an artist, our artist who goes to Sage Oak---- Daniel. He's made the flyers and stuff like that. So we've been able to be like, okay, well what if on the flyer we put both of our logos and we kind of design like this? So it's all been really collaborative it's all the kids, Tiffiny. It's all the kids. It's great. They do everything. I will facilitate, I will jump from room to room for different committee meetings, but it's all them. They do all the work. They do all the legwork. It's just a joy to watch how they've developed into being such great leaders. Unfortunately, Gabriela is leaving us this year. Are you graduating Gabriela? I am. How dare you. We have Olivia One more year. Yay. That is so awesome. That's so great. I mean, you just must feel so proud Brenda watching them work, and it's just really, truly impressive and I think it speaks so much to the okay. And now once we get through prom, which is a major event, what's kind of the next event that you guys will be planning for the end of the year? We're going to have a beach party, and we tried to do that at the beginning of the year, but there was the monsoon thing, , and so it kind of got rained out. So that's pretty exciting that, you know, just kind of have our big end of the year, bash at the beach. That's such a great idea. And hey, you know what? Sometimes you gotta pivot in life, right? And that is a lesson in and of itself. And so, you know what's so great about doing it at the end of the year is that hopefully through some of the friendships that people make at prom they will have just a whole nother reason to want to get together and see people again, in person at the beach to, to celebrate the end of the year. Yeah. I just want to revisit something we touched on a little bit earlier that if you're planning on coming to prom but you don't know any other student, that's completely okay. I don't want you guys to be scared. We are so excited to have you and you're not going to be the only one. They're everyone's so welcoming. So you will definitely still have a good time. I have to say, I, I kind of want to go now, like I kind of want to dust off some heels I might have in my closet. I don't know, I gotta find something fancy. You guys have made it sound like it's going to be a lot of fun, so I bet. I bet the students will love it and they're going to appreciate all of your hard work and it's going to be a really great event for them to just like what you've said, meet other people. Have a good time. Just dance and just enjoy the moment of being together. So thank you so much for all of the hard work that you have put into this prom. I know that it takes a lot of effort and a lot of planning and a lot of teamwork to pull this event off. So, you guys, thank you so much for all the work that you're doing for all of our students. I know it's going to be super exciting. I can't wait to hear all about it and see some pictures going to be awesome. So thanks so much for coming on and talking about it today. I. Thank you for having us. All right, you are welcome. We will be putting up some more details on the website so that if you want to find out some details about prom, you're able to find it on our sageoak.education website. All right. Thanks you guys for coming on today. Great talking with you. Thank you. Thank you.