Soup-erbly One offers recipe for communal collaboration

As West rounds the corner of the decade and the past drifts further behind, more and more efforts are being made to make the Oshkosh community unified and cohesive for the future. Early this year, the faculty at West introduced “Soup-erbly One,” a community focused event high-lighting the talents and skills of students, taking place on February 7.

Business and leadership teacher Elizabeth Podvin excitedly anticipates the opportunity to involve people from all around the school. “It is a celebration of Oshkosh West, showing the community, parents, faculty, students, and neighbors all the great things that go on here,” she said. “From displays of art, music, solo and ensemble, and dance, to having a soup and bread meal.”

Many students from West have been involved in the preparation for this event, with multiple clubs making soups, the art department creating pieces to display, and the students from the special education department painting soup bowls . “This event really unites the school,” Podvin said. “Any club that wants to join is going to serve soup from a pot around the size of a Nesco roaster, and they can tell people a little bit about their club.”

Some of the clubs participating in “Soup- erbly One” are O’Neil National Honors Society, Student Government, DECA, Sources of Strength, and the Anime Club. The culinary classes are also preparing a variety of desserts for the attendees. Biology teacher Vicki Ramus helped to organize this event, getting many in on the scoop. “We discovered that we could get a lot of players involved,” she said. “We need a lot of support and a lot of team members to pull this together if we truly want to have a nice representation of the diversity and talents at West.”

During the event on February 7, community members will be able to walk around the room sampling soups made by the various clubs in custom made bowls. “Clubs will also prepare and serve soups, which precedes the West North Basketball girls and guys game, so while you’re in the building, there will be art displays out too,” she said. “The art department is actually making 50 beautiful bowls that people can put their soup in if they want to for an extra five dollars.”

One of the very talented art students at West, senior Josie Oaks, was asked to assist in creating these bowls, and she gratefully accepted. “ I do really enjoy being a part of this,” she said. “I think it’s fun and it lets me practice one of my hobbies a lot more, and being a part of anything really big is really nice.”

To begin the process of making these clay creations, art teacher Jason Ryf had to teach students how to use the wheel and mold the clay. The real benefit that Ryf found was being able to see his art be a part of a bigger cause. “This way we can make stuff and it can go on to somebody else’s house and they can have a soup with it and decorate their house with it,” he said. “Hopefully it will be a remembrance of when we got together for the North-West game.”

With this being the first year West is hosting this event, it is expected that it will be challenging to put everything together. However, the teachers and students are hopeful because they know the real goal is to unite Oshkosh. “It’s a good idea to bring the community together,” Ryf said. “Obviously we’ve had some pretty tragic stuff lately and hopefully people can see the bright side of us coming together.”

The event can also impact the students who are involved, especially by allowing them to look outside the classroom to see the city that they are a part of. “Usually our art students are focused on making stuff for themselves or an assignment,” Ryf said. “Now they’re making the bowls to be sold or donated to help a bigger cause. It gets them to see a bigger picture than right here and right now.”

For many of the staff, an event that combines both West and North is a new concept, but this can serve as a time to set aside differences and recognize the abilities of all students. “We need to really concentrate on the positive things,” Ramus said. “We should showcase that more often and show parents, community, and people coming in the doors for games that there are so many layers to the talents, student achievement, and successes.”

Contrary to the generally negative views that are connotative with teenagers, teachers have a unique perspective because they see all the good that the students have brought to the community and to West. “Instead of just thinking that high school kids only litter, this event brings the community together and shows them that teenagers do stuff besides litter, make a lot of noise, or drive badly, because they’re doing stuff for the community,” Ryf said.

Not only does this event create a sense of unity from the outside community, but it is also an opportunity for students whose talents are being used, to develop them further. This is an especially enriching opportunity for those like Oaks, who hopes to continue making art with clay and ceramics as a career. “It lets us be involved by doing some of our favorite things, like me working with clay,” she said. “I want to pursue this later because of school. Seeing people appreciate my art is really meaningful because I would love to do this later in life. On top of that, it’s also for a good cause.”

Ryf enjoys events such as this because it allows his students to be featured in a different artistic light, as compared to their daily lives participating in sports, music, or academics . “It’s good to see all the different perspectives of a person and all their different sides,” he said. “Some people don’t talk about it and some people do, so it’s a nice surprise seeing their other talents.”

In preparation for next year’s event, any left over funds will be put into the pot for next year. Ramus looks forward to the upcoming event, and hopes that it will live up to its name. “I think this event builds a sense of community,” she said. “It is called ‘We are Soup-erbly One’, we are all under the same roof, doing our thing everyday together and that’s what interconnects all of us.”

By Keerthana Ambati and Abby Eaton

Published January 27th, 2020

The Oshkosh West Index, Volume 116 Issue 4