Ever since junior Brett Wright was a freshman, he knew that he wanted to be a major cog in the Booster Club machine later on in high school.

“I went to the first pep session and thought (Booster Club) was something really cool. So I thought ‘you know what, my senior year, that’s something I want to do,’” Wright said.

Now, alongside the rest of the newly-elected Booster Club officers, juniors Jared Stanley, Christie Dean, Heather Blankenbaker and Michael Phillips, Wright has a chance to live out that aspiration in part because of the changes that were made to the system that lead to these officers being chosen.

Rather than the usual student voting system that has typically earned officers their spots in the past, the decision was made this year for the officers to be appointed directly by faculty advisors instead.

A call out meeting for the positions was held, and the students who showed up were tasked with creating a project to promote the school in a way of their choosing, whether it be through some kind of power point presentation, twitter campaign or anything else that the students wanted to do. Those projects, alongside applications that were also needed, were evaluated. Students who fit the needed criteria the best, based on this gathered information, were chosen to be the new officers.

English teacher and Booster Club Sponsor Samuel Hanley, who was one of the advisors involved in this process, says that it was time that the Booster Club moved on from its old election system and adapted to the process that other programs within the school are already using.

“We made that decision because, like Riley Dance Marathon does, like the student council does, we thought that… it was time to shift away from being a student body election to an appointment based on the necessary skills to do the job,” Hanley said.

Hanley also took the chance to remind the student body that the Booster Club is a group that encourages student involvement. This new election process simply appointed officers for the Booster Club, but to be involved in the club in general is something that is open to any student.

“Everyone who wishes to be in the Booster Club is in the Booster Club,” Hanley said.

As far as plans go for the new Booster Club officers, their first big project will take place soon. Wright says it’s being called “the bird mobile.” The first running of this concept, which is acting as a sort of trial run, will consist of a group of students on a mini bus bouncing around between four different sporting events (golf, tennis, softball and volleyball) in one day. Wright says that he hopes the idea blooms into something that can be done on a consistent basis.