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As incoming Treasurer Aanya Solanki ’27 watches, Diya Shakkottai ’27 reaches for food as she talks with incoming Vice President Naomi Kini ’27. Shakkottai came to the party as a plus-one.
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Holding her plate, Luciana Lleverino ’26 steadies her food as Sahana Sakthivelmoorthy ’26 helps pour cheetos into Lleverino’s plate. Lleverino was elected incoming Webmaster and Sakthivelmoorthy rose to the President position. “[Bailey and Sahiti] do so much work that we don’t even know behind the scenes,” Sakthivelmoorthy said. “There’s just so much work that goes into being president that I didn’t know about, so I got to learn those hacks and tricks.”
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Focused, Cecilia Chen ’28 creates simple yet aesthetic drawings on her cup holder. Many attendees opted for simple drawings given the short time frame to decorate their cup holders. “[Cup holder decorating] was a really unique activity that Lina did, and I wouldn’t have thought of that at all,” incoming President Sahana Sakthivelmoorthy ’26 said.
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As incoming Secretary Aanya Solanki ’27 smiles, Diya Shakkottai ’27 holds up her cup holder incredulously after her name is announced as the cup holder competition champion. Shakkottai did not initially plan to attend the party, but it turned out to work in her favor as the winner got first pick of the prizes. “I draw flowers pretty often, so I guess experience [helped],” Shakkottai said.
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Looking at a reference photo on her phone, Diya Shakkottai ’27 copies a flower sketch from Google onto her cup holder. Shakkottai went on to be crowned the champion of the cup holder competition, and was able to reproduce the detailed artwork as a result of her years of experience from art classes.
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Presenting the second-place finisher with her prize, incoming Vice President Naomi Kini ’27 hands Rucha Kapadia ’27 a box of Sour Patch as incoming President Sahana Sakthivelmoorthy ’26 watches. Kapadia won second place in the cup holder decorating competition.
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Holding the bag of Doritos, Ana Schiemer ’28 pours chips into Millie Sardan Toro ’28’s plate as Lina Saad ’28 and Zaniah Brown ’26 waits for their turn in line. Saad was elected the incoming Secretary for the upcoming school year, and Schiemer, Sardan Toro, and Saad regularly attended club events together throughout the year.
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Holding her cup holder contest submission, Siqi Wang ’27 presents her submission to the judge, Sahana Sakthivelmoorthy ’26, as Prabhavee Thirimanna ’26 laughs. Wang and Thirimanna have been dedicated members of the club throughout the year, attending many events together.
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Looking at the officers, Siqi Wang ’27 and Prabhavee Thirimanna ’26 watch as the officers explain the Just Dance that is projected on the screen. Incoming Treasurer Aanya Solanki ’27 curated the playlist of Just Dance songs, and over time, members warmed up to the sounds of timeless hits echoing throughout the room.
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As incoming Treasurer Aanya Solanki ’27 watches, Diya Shakkottai ’27 reaches for food as she talks with incoming Vice President Naomi Kini ’27. Shakkottai came to the party as a plus-one.
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Holding her plate, Luciana Lleverino ’26 steadies her food as Sahana Sakthivelmoorthy ’26 helps pour cheetos into Lleverino’s plate. Lleverino was elected incoming Webmaster and Sakthivelmoorthy rose to the President position. “[Bailey and Sahiti] do so much work that we don’t even know behind the scenes,” Sakthivelmoorthy said. “There’s just so much work that goes into being president that I didn’t know about, so I got to learn those hacks and tricks.”
The sound of Umbrella by Rihanna echoed through Mr. Drake Clapp’s room after school on Tuesday, May 6 at Outreach Club’s end-of-year party, where the club members came together for the final meeting of the school year.
After allowing the members to grab food, an end-of-year party tradition, the officers kicked off the meeting with the final presentation of the year, going over new officers and presenting members with an opportunity to provide feedback for the club. The new candidates were brimming with enthusiasm and novel ideas, with some already participating in planning the party.
“[My favorite part was] getting to learn about all the different things this club has done this year,” Diya Shakkottai ‘27 said. “I honestly really love Outreach, and I’m so glad that they’re still continuing doing a lot of the winter social and library stuff because I’d love to do that next year.”
After the typical formalities of a general meeting, the officers transitioned into explaining the cup holder competition. Members would have a short time frame to decorate cup holders, and a judge would select the top three cup holders to award a prize.
“I loved the cup decorating and all the food that they offered, and how well-organized the event was,” Ana Schiemer ‘28 said. “I found out [about this club] through a flyer in the hallway in the very beginning of the school year, and I just joined and have been here ever since.”
After second and third place — Rucha Kapadia ‘27 and Schiemer, respectively — were announced for the cup holder competition, students waited in anticipation for the crowning of the champion: Shakkottai. Each member’s approach to creating cup holders varied; while some drew simple designs with markers on their cup holder, others used reference images from Google to create complex drawings in the short timeframe.
“My cup holder was inspired by Aanya’s beautiful suggestion of summer, so I decided to draw flowers even though that’s unrelated to summer,” Shakkottai said. “I have seven years of art classes, but I kind of hated my teacher throughout that, so I don’t know how much that contributed to it.”
Whenever there is an Outreach party, the club officers encourage members to bring a plus-one. Shakkottai was one of these plus-ones. Plus-ones allow the club to encourage more people to join, and are a method of facilitating outreach to more students to encourage community — something that has been one of the club’s primary goals this year.
“I’m planning to do more field trips and actually go outside and pick up trash from the creek,” incoming President Sahana Sakthivelmoorthy ‘26 said. “I had this idea to work with this one environmental organization to help clean up their park as well, so I feel like more future-based and outside of school-based activities would be better for the club.”
Since this was the last meeting of the year, it was sentimental for outgoing Vice President Bailey Zhang ‘25 as well as outgoing President Sahiti Oruganti ‘25, who was unable to attend the event. Both officers have put a lot of effort into the club, with Zhang’s and Oruganti’s roles swapped in their junior year. The end-of-year party, a hallmark Outreach tradition, is a way for both officers and members to finish the school year in a way that celebrates all their hard work.
“We have this party to wrap up everything and all the events that we did because we just need to tie it all up in a little bow,” Sakthivelmoorthy said.
