Oxford’s Raising Student Voice and Participation (RSVP) club sends representatives to every homeroom to host a schoolwide summit three times a year. These summits aim to address student opinions and concerns in order to drive change at Oxford, but the complex process of realizing these goals demands drive and dedication.
RSVP began as a district program guided by school administrators to advance campus life. Current AUHSD Trustee Ron Hoshi advised the Oxford chapter when he was Oxford’s assistant principal and continues to work with RSVP at the district level. Current advisor Mrs. Vosskuhler took the position three years ago as the club focused on individual schools.
“While they’re learning it all…I’m able to [point out] problems we’ve had in the past,” Mrs. Vosskuhler said. “My job is to…help them with the administrative duties, but because it is raising student voice and participation, it really is their club.”
After the summits, the club board identifies result trends and patterns for general members to focus on. This has enabled the club to facilitate numerous changes on campus, such as restocking feminine hygiene products in the bathrooms and instituting the RSVP Scholarships, which give $400, $300, and $200 to seniors who have worked with RSVP.
Club members carefully evaluate responses to determine necessary and feasible goals. Various levels of approval demand that the club focus on shorter-term goals that don’t conflict with existing plans at Oxford.
“People say [they] want a pool or…a new building, and although that’s what we would like to address, it’s a really long process when it comes to facilities,” president Allison Truong said. “We try to find things that are easier to fix.”
New goals from the first summit included accepting student input on school spirit days and implementing a new announcement page and service hour log on eKadence. After meeting with RSVP representatives, administration passed along the information and had the features added to Oxford’s eKadence page.
Until the next summit on Mar. 2, RSVP will focus on reviewing additional student recommendations from the first summit to determine future areas of focus.
“We’re…identifying the problems and solutions that [students] think are meaningful,” Ms. Vosskuhler said. “We’re trying to take what [students] said last year and keep working on those things while collecting new information this year.”
