Living just east of Seattle, we know all too well of the area’s consistent drizzles throughout the fall, winter and spring. In the school months of the year, Mother Nature gives us a little over 36 inches of rainfall. This year at Skyline High School, the rain combined with cold temperatures in the winter months, could be a major irritant for students already displeased with assemblies.

The school, undergoing a construction project scheduled to take the entire year, has few locations to move their near-monthly assemblies to. The Main Gymnasium, the former auditorium, is undergoing reconstruction and will be out of use for most of, if not the entire year.

This upcoming year’s Director of Assemblies, Calvin Wiley, suggested a few entertainment locations, saying that both the stadium and the fine arts theatre were the only viable options that have been discussed.

The biggest holdup for ASB is the school’s size; there isn’t a large enough arena to house all the students comfortably or reasonably. Future Director of Activities Michael Lange says the most realistic option is the split the day and have several different assemblies in the theatre, much like what was done with the holiday fine arts assembly earlier in the year.

Although this option works for some assemblies, it does not work well for all. Lange says, “splitting up assemblies like those in tribute of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or fine arts are easy, but spirit assemblies should be uniting the school, and when they are divided by class or floor the effects aren’t quite as satisfying. Assemblies like the one this year just hours before the football state championship game need to be together.”

Another problem facing ASB with assemblies with guest speakers is financial, as often-busy entertainers would have to devote more time and energy over the course of several consecutive shows. This construction project, funded by the District, seems to be taking the fun and the funds out of ASB.

Lange says with this type of assembly, the best option being considered is to move the festivities to the stadium, which he says could make it even easier for students to leave, as they literally need to walk past their vehicles, unlike when assemblies were hosted in the gym.

This enticement would likely be raised if students were forced to go outside on a less-than-beautiful day. During the winter months, over half of the days have some sort of precipitation. In November 2007, a randomly selected month from last year, 19 of the 30 days had some precipitation, be it a trace or just under two inches.

“Nobody will want to go outside for an assembly if it is raining or cold,” Lange points out obviously. This created apathy could seriously threaten the giddy attitudes necessary for running a spirit assembly. Lange then said one of his deepest thoughts ever, that “when the desire of escape overrides the power of spirit, the assembly has negative consequences.”

But Michael, known to most as Mikey for his wild and crazy actions, sees himself taking advantage of the area’s perennially dreary weather in the spirit assemblies, saying that he “could definitely see Calvin and myself mud wrestling in the stadium if it was wet enough.” Lange sadly forgot that the field is made of turf, thus making mud non-existent. He tried to cover his tracks, but this reporter wouldn’t let him.

One can only imagine how much spirit we will have when we will sitting in the cold rain, watching a takeoff of Deal or No Deal?, and rooting on our class to pick out the right suitcase.

But if the assembly had decent entertainment, like for the spring sports assembly having the varsity baseball team play an inning of teeball against the varsity softball team, I think I could manage.

Lange, understanding a need for change in ASB, said that the organization (and student body as a whole) needs to “stop looking at the mirror and start looking through the mirror to see what kind of miracles it can spin.” After two years of mediocre activities, assemblies, and attitudes, myself and the senior class of ‘09 couldn’t agree more.