Student Council Committees Meet to Serve the Community
Rachel Iyer ’22 and Hannuh Lu ’20 work together on a card.
Alyssa Zhu ’21 spreads peanut butter on the pine cones before Erin Zhang ’21 sprinkles bird seeds around them.
Rachel Iyer ’22 laughs as she shows off her card to others.
While making her card, Cici Kelley ’23 smiles as she reaches for a new marker.
Edward Seo ’21 uses a knife to spread peanut butter around the pine cone.
Justin Gao ’23 concentrates as he hangs his first bird feeder on a branch.
Chris Huh ’22 fastens one of his feeders after successfully crafting them.
After completing the bird feeders, Alyssa Zhu ’21 ties two on a nearby branch.
Aria Hegde ’22 hangs her last homemade bird feeder on a tree covered with other feeders.
Students pose for a picture after making their bird feeders.
In the wake of the El Paso shooting, Student Council (StuCo) members of the Community Service Committee got together on Wednesday, Sept. 18, to write cards of solidarity to elementary school students in the affected area. At the same time, the Energy and Environment Committee also made peanut butter and oatmeal coated pine cones to feed the wildlife that lives around the Westwood campus.
The event was organized by the Community Service Committee and was attended by several members of that committee. There were many cards created, all wishing the elementary students of El Paso a great school year.
“After we heard the news of the shooting at Walmart, there were teachers that were asking other students to send letters to their students so we wanted to dedicate an event to creating kind letters for the students,” Community Service Committee Chair Hannah Lu ‘20 said.
The short messages, which were all spelled out in big colorful letters, adorned various colored pieces of paper. One such message was simply, ‘We Love YOU’, signed Westwood High School Student Council.
“We’re just sending them love from Westwood High School,” said Freshman Co-President Aadhi Raja ‘23.
StuCo members of the Energy and Environment Committee also worked on making dozens of peanut butter and birdseed coated pine cones for birds. The primary goal of the project was to allow students to interact with nature in a productive manner.
“We just wanted to find a friendly way to approach nature with the students, so we just decided we’re going to make a fun do-it yourself project that all the students could actually do,” Energy and Environment Committee Co-Chair Edward Seo ‘21 said.
The decision to make the pine cone feeders was helped by the fact that there are a lot of birds on campus according to Seo. To make the feeders, students wrapped a string around the pine cones so that the feeder could be hung from trees, then students coated the pine cones with peanut butter so that oatmeal and birdseed would stick to it.
“It got a bit messy but overall the project itself was really successful in terms of the stuff that we made,” Seo said.
This StuCo event was highly productive and offered students the opportunity to support the grieving members of the El Paso community and give back to nature with creative DIY birdfeeders. By the time that the meeting was concluded, dozens of cards had been written and and a new meal for the birds of Westwood to enjoy had been made. To learn more about StuCo and what they do, visit their website.
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