By Earl Valenzuela

Another school year marks the start of yet another org-hunting season. Here in the ASHS, you’ll never run out of OSCCs to choose from. In some instances, OSCC officers approach students, and that was exactly what I did.

Long Story Short  

This is the first H Challenge that’s been done in years (as far as I am aware), and I’m the first one to do it. To the extent of my knowledge, the H Challenge is supposedly a challenge done by the editorial board of the organization, and every month, there’s a new challenge done. Long story short, I volunteered to do it, and, boy, did I regret doing that. After I volunteered, I secretly wanted to get a head start by posting on my own social media account and then contacting individuals from my old junior high school that was transferring to the ASHS. Push comes to shove, I planned on asking my batchmates for people they know might be interested in joining the organization.

The Beginning 

My first thought was that if I were to convince the new juniors into joining Hi-Lites, I would have to sound, or at the very least look, like I am sincere in recruiting them. So, I included a ton of emojis while texting them but was also mindful of being a little aggressive in my approach given that, for all I know, other organizations might pique their interest which could ultimately lead us to end up with a low applicant turnout.

Beyond my initial thoughts, the very first thing that I did was post a tweet saying, “hi if u wanna join hi-lites next sy pls dm me [pleading emoji].” 

At first, I thought the tweet would go unnoticed; but, at around 8 PM the same day, an incoming junior directly messaged me on Twitter. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see their request until around 12 midnight. I immediately apologized for not having a prompt response to their inquiry and, to my surprise, they replied almost immediately. I was able to answer all of their questions regarding the application process, the organization’s internal structure, and positions. I was even able to convince them to advocate for Hi-Lites in the upcoming involvement week. 

One down, nine more to go…

Old School, New Beginnings

More than 20 people from my previous JHS were transferring to the ASHS and it was the perfect opportunity to fill up the remaining nine spots. The very first person I messaged from that particular group was someone I knew way back in elementary school; they agreed to be recruited almost instantly. They even helped me out (which I am extremely grateful for) and managed to recruit not one, but four more applicants! I managed to recruit five people from a single conversation. I was overjoyed; however, my challenge was not done yet—I had four more spots to fill.

After promptly thanking the person who aided me in this challenge, I continued on my journey to recruit more juniors. This was truly a draining activity—messaging prospective applicants on social media. Who knew that campaigning, advocating, and advertising your organization in hopes of a high applicant turnout would be so exhausting? But, that didn’t stop me from completing my task.

Without me realizing it, I was down to my last spot to fill. Usually, at this point, I would be completely optimistic about getting the last applicant and finally finishing the challenge. But, I was utterly wrong—AGAIN. I felt helpless. I’ve exhausted all my personal connections, and I’ve used up all my avenues to advertise. 

Nine down, one to go…

At that point, I was scared of having to drop the entire challenge with one last recruit to go. However, I wasn’t quite done yet. I decided to use the call a friend card. Unfortunately, though, they were unable to introduce me to potential recruits.

Low Risk, High Reward?

I was entirely ready to give up the moment they gave me that answer. However, they did offer to disseminate a message on my behalf through a close friend of theirs who was also an incoming junior. So, I constructed a message that included my contact information, should they have any questions. I also asked them to direct their questions to Hi-Lites’s official Facebook page and email address, and I tried to answer most of their inquiries.

This was the last miracle I needed to be able to call this challenge done. Not long after the message was disseminated though, I woke up to no messages. How anticlimactic, I thought to myself. Still, I decided to give it more time. True enough, after a few hours, I started to get direct messages on Twitter, inquiries on the Hi-Lites Facebook page, OBF email, and even my Discord account. 

It was extremely strenuous to respond to so many inquiries simultaneously, but I knew that copy-pasting my responses were the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to give the prospective applicants a sense of effort and compassion for the work I was doing, and what values are upheld in the organization itself.

The message gained so much traction. In fact, two weeks after it was sent, I still continued to get inquiries. In the end, I’ve talked to about 20 juniors who may be interested in joining the organization. 

Now That That’s Settled

For the final step of the challenge, I had to write this event as a narrative, and look at how it turned out. At first, I thought to myself, “how am I supposed to finish this challenge if the only juniors I know are the ones that are transferring from my old high school?” But then it came to me that if I wanted to accomplish this challenge, I needed to go out of my comfort zone. This challenge was social battery-depleting, yet was also life-giving. I hope that this challenge paves the way for a better applicant turnout come involvement week. 

Fingers crossed.