With the beginning of the virtual school year unfolding, all clubs and extracurricular activities have quickly adapted their ways of operation.
Junior Statesmen of America (JSA), in its second year of operation at Loyola, has had some particularly difficult adjustments to make. The Loyola chapter of JSA was started by a group of sophomores last school year with the vision to improve Loyola’s connection with other schools’ political programs.
Junior Jared Aimone, Loyola’s JSA president, says “JSA is a student-run non-profit political awareness organization designed to engage students with the society they live in.”
JSA serves as a space to discuss the policies that run our society through events such as state-wide conventions, debates, presidential watch parties and letter-writing campaigns to congressmen and city officials. Additionally, JSA offers community service opportunities and social events with members of chapters from across Southern California.
Lieutenant Chief of Staff of Southern California JSA, Isabella Szabo, says, “Socially, JSA has helped me make lifelong friends. JSA alumni often start some really cool projects that you can partake in.”
Szabo adds, “JSA being student run means it’s totally unlike any other organization. You get leadership and organizational skills from being in the cabinet that you cannot get elsewhere.”
Despite being a new club, Loyola’s JSA chapter has been able to smoothly transition into online operation by still having weekly meetings, virtual debates, and watch parties.
Aimone said, “All of the discourse that is normally done through conventions and meetings has transitioned smoothly to Zoom, so much so, that we were able to have things running after a few weeks.”
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