KSN founders: getting off the ground during a pandemic (part two)

Like many of you, the Kingsley Voice  grew curious about the newest club helping Niners navigate the heap of changes coming their way, all the while bringing us flashbacks from our days in grade nine: King Supports Niners. So we sat down with Brathi Adhikary, Warda Subah and Shorbani Das, the grade twelve executives behind KSN, to give our readers (and ourselves) a closer look behind the virtual curtains.

This is the second part to this series. Read on to hear more about what KSN has in store for grade nines this year, who will take over once the founders graduate, and the story behind the hater that nearly undermined their motivation to move forward with the club.

So, how do you feel about the response you’ve received from the students? 

Shorbani: At first, all was going well. Everyone was promoting it, it was all good. But we actually got a hater! We were getting so much support in the beginning but that one hater made us so upset and discouraged. It was an anonymous account, and they messaged us saying “this club has no purpose, why are you doing this?” 

Warda: It was so funny. They were telling us that our club would get cancelled and what not. We checked the account and it was a troll account, so we eventually blocked them. 

Brathi: This individual kept messaging us paragraph after paragraph after paragraph, and we were all generally so confused as to why they were so passionate about hating us.

None of it was adding up. And so we just came to the conclusion that it was a troller and a hater. 

Shorbani: But it was a great experience, I mean it was our first “hater!” 

We can’t imagine starting a club from scratch, it’s usually something you inherit so you don’t really have to worry about it not working out. 

Warda: I think what made it easier was that it was just us three, and the fact that we were friends made it easier to communicate with each other every day.

Brathi: We’re all really close friends, so even our Facetimes just turn into formal meetings. 

Is KSN open for anyone to join?

Warda: It’s not really a club that you join. It’s more like a community where you can get advice and whatnot. We do want two or three people to help with media, you know, keep track of our Discord and Instagram account.

Are there any exciting events in the future from KSN?

Shorbani: We have Marley who graduated last year. He provided us with so much advice on how to run things, how to pay attention in school and manage so many different things, like managing this club, as well as doing your homework on time. So we really want to have a big conference where he shares his advice with grade nines because we all think that it’ll help them so much.  

Brathi: We also plan on collaborating with other clubs and councils. In fact, we’re in the process of collaborating with KSC; we’re planning on doing something for Valentine’s Day.

Shorbani:  I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s really cute.

Warda: We also started a series of posts on Instagram called “Lunch at King” where we post about the different lunch spots near King, so grade nines know how chaotic it can get when you line up and also the food that they offer. It supports the businesses too, especially now at a time where it’s really hard for them to make money since students aren’t really going to the restaurants. 

Brathi: The thing is we have all had these experiences, like when you have a test to make up for at 12:30 and you want to get lunch as well, say at Wild Wings, and it’s super busy so you don’t have time for your test. So giving that information away would really help, it would’ve helped me in grade nine.

Who will run KSN when you graduate?

Shorbani: We’re trying to find two extra members to be a communications representative and a media representative.

We want them to either be in grade ten or grade eleven and, hopefully, demonstrate skills that’ll make us think “wow, they’re good leaders”.

And then hopefully they’ll take on the role of being the president of this club. 

End of interview

In line with promoting extracurriculars at King, KSN has embarked on creating a video highlight of R.H. King’s Business Department, featuring student testimonials. The goal here is to encourage younger students to explore the many skills and options that they can discover from taking business courses, which they would normally hear about from upper-year students during course carousels.  We’re certain that grade nines will continue to appreciate being able to acquire guidance from their peers that have gone through it all, even during a pandemic.

We would like to thank Brathi, Warda and Shorbani for taking us through their journey so far, and wish them the very best in growing KSN so that it can serve many generations of grade nines going forward.

If you don’t already, be sure to follow @kingsupportsniners on Instagram for some serious study tips, volunteering opportunities, uplifting upper-year experiences from students and more!