School-Sponsored ‘Collective’ Reveals Interactive Phase

The school-sponsored group “The Collective,” which launched its campaign on Wednesday, March 24, is working on additional steps to promote its message of respect and unity.

Junior Carolyn Yang, a member of The Collective, said The Collective’s next steps will include organizing social events for the student body. Although members are unsure what the events will be, Carolyn mentioned movie nights and concerts as possibilities.

“We need to sit out and plan,” Carolyn said. “It’s going to be basically community events that everyone can participate in.”

The Collective officially revealed its message and purpose to the school at the Diversity Assembly on Friday, April 9.

“Our mission is to promote the respect and unity of others on the Los Altos High School campus,” Carolyn said at the assembly. “We, as students and staff at Los Altos High School, are a part of The Collective and united by a common goal to create a greater good.”

The Collective and its message rely on a “ninja marketing” strategy, according to Carolyn and member senior Karim Poonja. Ninja marketing aims to create suspense and pique student curiosity until the campaign officially revealed its message. Carolyn said that due to “time shortage” at the assembly, she did not think the reveal is yet complete.

Prior to the reveal, The Collective posted banners, fliers and magnets around the campus and gave away items like iPods, movie tickets, gift certificates, lanyards and jelly beans as part of the ninja marketing strategy.

The group is sponsored by Community Hope and Sober Events (CHASE), a local organization that has been working with the school since the end of the last school year, according to CHASE co-founder Leslie Lodestro.

CHASE paid for eight students, called both the Street Team and The Unit, to implement the ACTUALITY program at the school.

According to the ACTUALITY website, the program aims to influence teenage “social norms.” The Unit’s members, announced on Wednesday, April 7, are Karim and senior Sarah McGee, Carolyn and junior Lauren Bednarski sophomores Chip Cantrell and Gonzalo Alcazar, and freshmen Megan Leak and Sam Lodestro.

The ACTUALITY program that the Street Team follows is run through TEAM Fort Collins, a nonprofit from Colorado that aims to combat teen drug abuse. “[ACTUALITY] seeks to improve health and safety by exploding commonly held myths about unhealthy behavior and [communicating] positive behavior instead,” the website said. TEAM Fort Collins has worked with over 60 schools, CHASE founder Leslie Lodestro said, and campaign messages have varied in focus from preventing heroin usage to stopping drunk driving.