With Homecoming on the horizon, Director of Student Activities, Celina Sosa’s office is a whirlwind of activity.
Growing up as the youngest child in a family of six, Sosa gained much experience when it came to taking the lead. She recalls organizing and bringing people together since a young age.
“I’ve always done it, it’s in my personality. I’m the one who always organizes lunches with my friends. I love parties, I love bringing people together, and I love music. I’m a very active person and [planning] activities has always come natural to me,” Sosa said.
Her ability to lead allowed her to assume the role of vice president of her sorority, and then aided her in her career as a lawyer. However, after 12 years as a lawyer, Sosa chose to pursue a career in education instead. According to Sosa, she understands the many “moving parts” of a school and feels equipped with challenges.
“You have to be very organized, you have to be peppy, … anything that can go wrong will go wrong; you have to learn to go with the flow,” Sosa said.
Sosa worked at Immaculata-La Salle High School as an English teacher for a year and when Homecoming season came around, she was surprised by the lack of enthusiasm.
“That first Homecoming it just didn’t seem that the students were into it . . . the kids were bored. I was like ‘That’s it?,’ ” Sosa said.
After seeing the lack of excitement, she began brainstorming ways to improve the event. Her coworkers liked her ideas and suggested that she should be in charge of coordinating the activities. She went on to do just that.
“They were supportive in that they allowed me to do everything that I wanted to do and would find ways to help me do it,” Sosa stated.
She continued as an activities director, starting her second year rekindling the school’s dying flame.
“We decided to do competitions amongst the classes and that’s what really brought[the students] into it.” Sosa said. She drove the changes and activities, which, according to Sosa, effectively saved the school spirit and pride overal. Although she loved to do it, she admitted that planning those events also came with challenges.
“[Planning] for a school is a whole other monster,” she said, “It takes a special someone to be crazy enough to want to do something like this because it’s a lot,” Sosa said.
Sosa has been busy with planning recent events during Community Time, atrium announcements, and expanding the number of club offerings at Club Rush. She’s working closely with Student Government to develop activities that foster school spirit, and said she is excited about working with students to help make memories that last a lifetime.
“It’s been a very nice transition, there’s lots of work to do and it’s a big learning curve so it’s definitely overwhelming but that’s to be expected with any activities job like this . . . but I have a lot of support,” she said.
