The big hand on the clock was on the seven, and the little hand was on the five. Most students were finishing up the day’s homework and talking to their friends or collecting the books for their second hours. On the other hand, sophomore Brooke Bennett and junior Lena Dennington were starting the first leadership meeting for Coalition.

“I just want to say I am so excited that you guys are wanting to become leaders through Coalition this year,” Bennett said, “so today, the plan is just going to be figuring out what you guys want to be most involved in.”

Bennett and Dennington are co-presidents of Coalition, and for the both of them, it is their first year on the executive board. Not only does Coalition have new co-presidents, but the sponsors, Beth Jantsch and Sara Schaufler, are also on their first year as well.

“We are all new to this, so we are all learning together,” Bennett said.

Jantsch and Schaufler both decided last year that they did not want to see Coalition die down, so they decided together to become co-sponsors.

“The Coalition is such an amazing program, and we both love what it stands for,” Jantsch said.

Coalition has been around for seven years, and nobody wants to change the aspect of it. Coalition has been involved organizations such as Invisible Children and Love 146. This year they are still going to be fully dedicated to those organizations, but an organization that caught the group’s eye was UNICEF (United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund). UNICEF dedicates themselves to smaller relief projects for one main cause to help. Club members want to see an immediate relief from their efforts, and this is why Coalition liked UNICEF so much.

“A main goal of ours this year is for club members to have more leadership in their projects, and UNICEF will allow us to do that,” Bennett said.

Something that is not changing is the well-known event  “The Walk” which took place before school on Sept. 27.

“A lot of club members get really excited about ‘The Walk’ because that is where they get to represent their different organizations they contribute to,” Bennett said.

Other events that the Coalition is thinking about are: the second annual Big Event, a music festival that helps raise funds for organizations and the Coalition overall, and another event that might come up is a Coalition Quidditch Cup.

“We are starting off from the ground up but we are really excited to get involved in all of these organizations and kind of work with the people coming in,” Dennington said. “I feel like we are going to come in with a whole new perspective on things and hopefully raise money and awareness for the school and for the world.”

by Sarah Godke