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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
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Leadership is just something Sydney Church does. She’s been involved in student leadership programs since she can remember, and she put an exclamation point on her senior year at Westfield High School by serving as student government president through what might be one of the most difficult years the school has ever seen. It was a challenge Church didn’t see herself stepping down from. “Everyone knows that my involvement in student government is important to me - it’s just my thing,” Church says. “I just love to help people.” Church and her fellow students tackled the task of uniting a school that was divided in half for most of the year, and strict pandemic-related restrictions limited the events they could host.
SYDNEY CHURCH
“Because we couldn’t plan as many events as we usually do, our goal was to use the events we could plan to inspire as much spirit within the student body that we could,” Church says. “What made it especially difficult this year was having two different cohorts up until late April. It was really important to make sure that the Gold Day kids were getting to experience the same things as the Green Day kids. That’s also what made it fun, seeing how the different sides of the student body reacted to our events.” Starting with the pandemic shutdown in March of 2020, Church and her friends jumped in organizing virtual spirit days. Homecoming 2021 looked a little different, but Church says it was her favorite project as president because it was so important to encourage unity amongst her peers. “With COVID we still weren’t 100% sure what we were able to do, but we planned what we could,” she says. TownePost.com / JULY 2021 / WESTFIELD MAGAZINE / 35
Riverview Health Stadium was morphed into a large movie theater for a movie night during homecoming week, and pep rallies were recorded and virtually streamed to all students. “I was so thankful for my friends that helped
