Operation Snowball, a club that started outside of Oswego East High School, turned into a thriving community, earning a spot next to other clubs at East. Recently, however, they have been entangled in an unfortunate controversy that has put a fork in plans for the club, giving its leaders a challenge to figure out.
East’s Operation Snowball became an official student-led club for the 2024-2025 school year and plans to continue for the 2025-2026 school year. Their mission is to teach others, especially youth, within the SD308 community on how to make a difference and how to be a positive influence within their community as well.
The club faced a bit of miscommunication regarding grant money that they needed for the club, and also trying to find a new sponsor for the club to keep it going.
Madeline Couper, one of the leaders of the club, briefly explained the issue happening within Operation Snowball.
“We did not receive an email asking for certain details as to the money we would need from the grant… By the time we got the message, that deadline had already passed, and we were no longer eligible.” Couper said.
Operation Snowball is a mostly student-led club, but with the changing of sponsors, it has been a little difficult to get up and running.
Anabella Alaniz, another leader of the club, told us her objective for the future dates of the club.
“The purpose of the grant was just to promote our club, so people are aware of it, and we can maybe start creating merch and getting snacks for our meetings,” Alaniz said. “We plan to have more meetings that are more exciting for people!”
Recently, the leaders have expressed that they have been in good hands with finding a new sponsor and are close to getting the club back up and running to train students to become leaders, and provide students with healthy forms of coping.
Operation Snowball meets after school on the last Monday of every month in Room G122.
Written by Seniors Sofia Martinez and Jacob Kalecki. Edited by staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.