Just as Westlake High School has shifted over to online classes, student organizations have also begun to use Zoom in order to meet. 

Lorena Chiles is a senior member of the Animatic Club. She is the founder and has been in the club for four years.

Q: Tell me a little about the Animatic Club.

A: In the Animatic Club, we make animatics and really just have fun! We meet once a week, usually to work on our latest animatic-project, including doing things like brainstorming, writing, storyboarding, voice acting, etc. Thus far, we’ve produced a couple shorter ones (of varying quality. But hey, it’s fun!). I think the coolest part about this club is that we all share a common interest in wanting to create– we’re not just there because we have to be. Club activities are pretty laid back, all things considered, but a lot of new friendships have been made.

Q: How has the club been affected by the coronavirus?

A: The coronavirus has for sure made things really wacky. When school got off for spring break, we were actually in the middle of creating a new animatic, having finished the script and started storyboarding. In the grand scheme of things, this was actually okay timing for not having another in-person meeting. Scripting is usually the hardest part because we’re a group, all with different ideas, so doing Zoom calls for that might’ve been rough. Luckily, as I said, at this point we moved to storyboarding — which can be done individually, and then reviewed during Zoom calls. A similar situation is with the voice acting, panelling and editing, which could be done on one’s own, as long as we continue having meetings to reevaluate where we’re at.  So, in summary, the timing of this coincidentally could’ve been a lot worse. Because we were in the process of creating an animatic, it would’ve been a shame to just stop meeting and drop the project that everyone was so invested in. So naturally, we continued meeting weekly for about an hour to continue our work!

Q: Has the club accomplished anything big despite the coronavirus?

A: As of April 20th we’re just finishing up the storyboards and plan to move on with the animatic-process. We’ll be working into summer to finish our project. To give a little summary, this animatic is about a pizza delivery man who has befriended the local mafia, but when the pizza man goes missing, the mafia must solve the source of the problem. It’s a comedy and has a bit of romance.

Q: Anything else?

A: Meeting through Zoom hasn’t dramatically changed our Animatic Club activities, like it has for other people. But we still miss out on that social aspect that you can really only get when seeing someone face to face. It’s sad to think that we probably won’t ever be in the same room together again as a full group. I’m at least grateful that in this day and age we can continue connecting through apps like Zoom! 

Jackson Wiese is a junior who’s been a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes for three years.

Q: Tell me about FCA.

A: So FCA stands for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and our main goal is to empower our fellow athletes and share the Christian message. So, our meetings before the coronavirus were on Thursdays during both lunch periods. And so, we have speakers come in from either inside or outside Westlake in the church community. Some teachers came and spoke and even students spoke about whatever is on their heart, whatever is calling them and whatever is, I guess sort of, they’re compelled to say. And so, they would give a talk, and we would pray, and we would talk about it. And it was basically a Christian community where we can all share our struggles, what’s going on in our athletic activities.

Q: How has the club been affected by the coronavirus?

A: So we’ve transitioned to online so using Zoom now instead of having fourth and fifth period lunch. They’re both combined. And so we have a lot more members coming to meetings, and it’s great to be able to see everyone. Many of my friends have been saved if they’re a freshman, but we’ve never had the same lunch period. And so now, having the same Zoom call meetings, I get to hear what they’re wanting to say and I get to see them at FCA which I’ve never worked with them on the leadership team. I’ve never seen them there and heard from them so it’s really really nice. Right now we’re having teachers and students only speak because of the whole Zoom bombing and privacy issues so we can’t have outside community people in the community churches come and speak. But a lot of the students who have stepped up and have wanted to speak and have said that, “Hey, I’ll come speak this week,” and so it’s super exciting because we’re going to see so many more students share about their testimonies about how Christ has affected them and how what they’re learning right now in their face wall here, you know, in the chronic times.

A: Has the club accomplished anything big despite the coronavirus?

Q: Really, we have done some service opportunities [before], nothing major. I was in it when I was a freshman. We woke up at 4:15am, and we went downtown to [a place] called Feed My People[Breakfast “to Go”]. And I see Feed My People[volunteers that] serve the homeless [in] downtown Austin on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. And so we get to wake up super early and get there, and you help prepare meals, set up tables, get coffee to the homeless and it’s a really, really great opportunity. And we did it, when I was a freshman, but we haven’t done it since. There are different denominations within it all and FCA is a space where anyone can come and talk about their Christian faith and how spiritually they’re doing and what’s going on in their lives, regardless of denomination, regardless of sport. And so I think it’s just a great place for all Christians to come in and share with their feelings. So yeah, ultimately, it is a bigger game. But that’s what makes it so special is the community that we are creating and that we get to embrace.

A: Anything else?

Q: Ultimately, FCA is just a student led organization regardless of sponsor help. We’re able to continue working because we find the speakers and when we have that during the school year, we get food, all of us bring our gifts together to help make the organization run, so it’s really beautiful. I just frankly love it. 

Kristi Xing is a sophomore that participated in Relay for Life for five years. She’s been an ambassador and captain for two years.

Q: Tell me a little about Relay for Life.

A: Relay for Life is the primary fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. It’s an event usually held in the spring, and up until the event teams will fundraise money. Events are 6 hours long, with many cool things like food, games, goga, zumba, live music, etc and teams coordinate with spirit gear.

Q: How has the club been affected by the coronavirus?

A: Our event was scheduled for April 9, but had to be postponed to the fall from corona. COVID-19 is especially threatening to “high-risk” patients which cancer patients would be, and cancer still lives on through this pandemic which is why we needed to keep working.

Q: Has the club accomplished anything big despite the coronavirus?

A: On April 9, we held a virtual relay event on facebook live which had music, speakers, and a virtual luminaria ceremony honoring the affected coordinated by me and a few other ambassadors.

Q: Anything else?

A: We have also been posting “relay calls” on our social media, supporting local businesses that have sponsored relay that have been struggling.