Unattended club emails once left the school vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Those emails served as fake users and inactive accounts that could potentially be exploited. To address this, the upper school has transitioned to a more organized system, free from possible risks.

The two changes involve elected and selected groups and clubs. Elected and selected committees are moving into Google Drive groups to allow for easier access to files. Similarly, each club will now be organized through Google Classroom, where it will be managed by its faculty advisor and student leaders.

Now that elected and selected groups are more organized, every member of the committee is in the group, allowing for safer security while still having access to the committee email to communicate with the student body.

Chuck Andres, director of technology, explained that the change was introduced to promote clearer communication and stronger security. “It is a cybersecurity issue to maintain unattended or fake email accounts, so what we are transitioning to is elected and selected using [Google] Groups, and for clubs, we are transitioning to Google Classroom,” Andres said.

Adding on to that, Carys Hsiung, co-president of the Upper School Council, explained how elected and selected files can now be passed down easily to future members using groups. “The reason why [admin is] transitioning from individual club or student organization emails in general, to Google Groups was that it would be easier to just add and remove members as they graduate or as they newly join an organization,” Hsiung said.

This change was made to reduce confusion for both students and advisors. It also ensures that important information and communication remain accessible after committee and club leaders graduate.

Sophomore Darien Hull, a representative of the student activities committee, recently started his second year on the committee and can see some differences due to the change already. He has seen how the committee’s Google Drive is better organized than before. “It is nice that the Google Drive folder is on my regular student account rather than a separate email account, it just makes things easier,” Hull said, “We had some problems accessing files and templates from previous years because past members didn’t share them properly, so this has helped us quite a lot recently.”

In past years Google Drive folders and files haven’t been passed down effectively for the following committee members. This had led to returning and new members having to do extra work rather than building on previous years’ work.

By shifting to Google Classrooms for clubs and Google Groups for elected and selected committees instead of unattended emails, cybersecurity gaps have been reduced for the school. At the same time, club and committee leaders have an easier time managing and gaining access to their resources. The change will make club and committee life easier while also making it safer.

Updated 9/29 to clarify facts in the headline.