In April,  Coppell High School senior Qiling Yeo created a Zoom session in which new students to CHS could meet one another and interact to get to know each other better. With the help of lead counselor Ann Cinelli, Yeo received the list of the students new to CHS from the fall semester and held the Zoom in which she and a Student Council representative talked to each of the new students. This semester, she hopes to expand the event to include more students and develop the Zoom meetings more to expand the impact and reach of these events. 

 What was your inspiration for starting the new student Zooms?

In November 2020, I organized the Virtual Club Expo and after I organized that, I was thinking that there was a group of students that were overlooked, the new students. After consulting with [CHS associate principal Melissa Arnold], she let me know that new students would really love [the idea of a new student Zoom] because they were having a hard time finding a community, especially being virtual. That’s when I realized that it would be extremely difficult for new students coming here and not knowing anybody, to have to go to class like this as opposed to in person where we get to talk and have little conversations with our classmates and now they can’t do that. 

What other extracurricular activities are you involved in?

I am vice president of the Food for America Club. I am the president of the Cooking for a Cause Club, and I am also a member of the Business Professionals of America Club. My team and I recently qualified for nationals [in Small Business Management Team], and I also am in the national economics challenge with [CHS teacher Miranda Portteus] and three other students. 

What is the most fulfilling part of holding these Zooms?

Seeing the excitement and happiness on the faces of the new students. One time it came close to the end of the call and I said maybe we could hold this again [and] the students had said that they really liked the opportunity. Hearing them say that [the Zoom] was beneficial for them was the most fulfilling part for me. Being a virtual student and doing the same thing everyday without meeting new people, for them to meet new people and get to interact and socialize even if it was virtually and not in person, that was fulfilling to me.

What do you want the students you have helped to remember about you?

I hope that the actions I’m doing can inspire them to give back to their community, help them take courage in their own ideas, put themselves out there to try and do things that benefit the community and help people who are overlooked. I want them to think about if they were in that situation, wouldn’t it be great to have a solution. 

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