Senior Roman Kalaczinski wanted to apply for an internship this past summer. 

He tried to look through resources provided by the school to help him gain some work experience, but quickly grew frustrated when his search resulted in little to nothing found. He took it upon himself to do his own research and find an opportunity that was exactly what he was looking for. 

After his struggle this summer, Roman figured he must not be alone and came up with a plan for the Student Life Page (SLP) here on The Central Trend. 

“I thought that there should be a place where students can go [to] find different resources, like [internships], that they can apply for and find something that they’re passionate about,” Roman said. “[I] wanted there to be something that kids can look at to decide things that they’d be interested in doing in high school.”

The main goal of the SLP is to get as many students involved in as many activities as possible. The page highlights all the different sports teams, clubs, and different volunteer opportunities in the community that Roman and his partner junior Caroline Logan have researched. 

Roman and Caroline first started their journey in making this page by reaching out to different organizations in the Grand Rapids area that are interested in having high school students volunteer. This particular section of the page is helpful to students involved in National Honors Society or students who just wish to give back to the community. 

“I’m excited about [the] part of the page that highlights the volunteer opportunities outside of school,” Roman said. “I think that we all, at least somewhat, know about the different clubs and teams inside of school, but I feel like very few kids are able to get connected to volunteer opportunities outside of school unless they’re involved in NHS in their junior and senior year. I think that this is a good way for underclassmen to [start doing] volunteer work.”

On top of volunteer opportunities, the SLP also highlights the different sport teams that are available for students to join. The short blurbs about each team have links to both the teams’ Instagrams and their page on the FHC Sports Report website to provide an indepth look at both the team’s atmosphere and success. 

The third role of the SLP is to get more students involved in the diverse clubs and activities that are offered to them. Each club was sent a Google Form to fill out to be included on the page in order to give student’s that are interested the most accurate information. Also, pictures have been included in most stories to give readers an idea of what the acitivity/club is like. 

Roman and Caroline both have worked tirelessly to make this page as informative as possible for both parents and students by reaching out to numerous sports captains and club leaders to provide accurate news for students looking to be more involved, and Roman has high hopes for the page as a whole.

“I hope that it becomes something that students in the middle school and in the high school can go to to find something that they can be excited about and get involved in,” Roman said.

FHC has so many great programs for students to participate in, and Roman felt like they weren’t being properly utilized by students because of a lack of knowledge that surrounded different clubs, activities, and sports teams. 

“I don’t feel like there’s a whole lot of resources where students can go to find things to get involved in,” Roman said. “I felt like a central page, especially [on] something as popular as The Central Trend, would be a super nice, central place for kids to go to find something they like.”  

Whether it’s through the short blurbs about volunteer opportunities or the four spaces that list class updates for each grade, the SLP, Roman, and Caroline are all dedicated to helping students develop new passions and stay in the loop here at school.

“I think it’s a great way to learn about things that are going on inside of school,” Roman said, “but also things that are going on outside of school. You may find something that you didn’t think that you would be interested in or that you didn’t know [was] out there. Who knows? It could spark something for you. So just looking at the things that are going on around you, I think, is something that’s super valuable and could be really cool for kids to do.”