Operation Click club amps up annual program, takes on social media
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
Elkhorn Area High School’s Operation Click club is taking a new approach to the annual program this year, aiming to draw more students in than ever before.
Under the direction of Club President Clara Kostock and fellow leader Hannah O’Hara, Elkhorn’s Operation Click club is taking the program head-on with a slew of new activities and social media tools to better engage the student body.
Firstly, Kostock noted the club’s “seatbelt-selfie,” competition via the popular social media app Instagram. Through the competition, students are encouraged to take a photo of themselves wearing their seatbelt before hitting the road, tagging the Instagram page set up for the program and using the appropriate hash-tags.
“There’s a little disclaimer, don’t do it while driving, but snap a photo before you go to school and hash-tag click it and hash-tag I pledge,” she said.
After Christmas break, members of operation click aim to gather up the names of all those who participated in the competition, placing them into a drawing for a gas card.
Kostock said in thinking how to get people involved, with social media being huge among students, it was a no-brainer.
“As soon as she mentioned it, I was like, holy cow, how come nobody’s ever though of this before,” Operation Click Advisor and School Liaison Officer Joe Kirkpatrick said.
Taking on Facebook and Instagram, Kostock said they’ve already had an incredible response to the new initiatives, having nearly 200 students join the Facebook page in only a day.
Being a student-driven program, Kirkpatrick said this year has shown an increase of about 40 participants, which he credits to both Kostock and O’Hara for their hard work in promoting the program.
“That is from the two of them getting the kids excited,” he said. “We had contract signing and they would go out into the cafeteria with my megaphone and yell, ‘come sign up for Operation Click,’ just having a great time, it’s just really neat to see.
“They’re doing it all the way. They deserve all the credit.”
Included in the initiatives is a dodgeball tournament after finals to help students “detox” from the stress of finals, as Kostock put it, for students who pledged to follow the Operation Click contract. As a prize, Kostock said the top team would likely get something like a pizza party and gas cards.
Kostock said they’d even like to get teachers involved in an Admirals game-esque half-time show.
“We’ll have a halftime show that we wanted to get setup with those tricycles they use for the little kids,” she said. “We’ll have the teachers on them, do a race or something like that.”
Additionally, Kostock noted getting the school’s competition cheer team in on the half-time show, performing their state competition routine for the student body.
Kostock said this year the group aims to spread the activities out over the course of the year, keeping the program fresh in students’ minds and keeping them excited.
Recently, the program held its AAA driving simulator program, a student favorite, at the school. In the program, students hop into the driving simulator and text and Snapchat (another popular social media tool), showing them just how dangerous these activities can be while driving. Kostock said students and staff really get into it.
“During the lunches there was always a crowd cheering people on,” she said. “We had Mr. Kiel, one of our principals, we had him snapchatting and trying to drive at the same time and he ran into a train.”
“I got boo-ed a couple times the next day when I went to pack it up and put it away,” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick said another student favorite, the Operation Click golf cart event is coming up in the spring, another students favorite in which students drive Operation Click golf carts – painted like Walworth County Sheriff’s Office squad cars – around the parking lot, simulating various driving distractions, such as texting, and wearing fatal vision goggles.
“It’s fun to watch the students get involved,” Kostock said. “Like, with the ‘selfie’ thing, it’s proof that they’re wearing their seatbelts and it’s really kind of cool.”
Kirkpatrick said he’s thankful of district and school administration for their support of the student led project and all of the initiatives it includes.
For more about Operation Click, visit operationclick.com and the Operation Click EAHS Facebook page.
