The senior class council has to run any purchases through their sponsor, math teacher Monica Russell — except in the weeks leading up to Friday, Dec. 5, while planning her surprise baby shower. Mrs. Russell is expecting her second child, so the council is celebrating by decorating room 1-401 with icicle streamers, hanging a “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” banner, and pressing play on a winter-theme playlist made just for the occasion. If all goes according to plan, Mrs. Russell will have no idea when she walks in.

“Celebrating her role not only as an educator and as our sponsor, but now as a mother who is having another child, I think is very important,” senior class council co-president and communications senior Ashwin Kishor said. “It highlights all of the hard work she does in juggling multiple responsibilities.”

Preparing the decorations and activities without Mrs. Russell’s knowledge led to what senior class council co-president and piano senior Karen Zhao referred to as “covert ops.” Kishor, Zhao, and other council members met with math teacher Traci De Leon — whose idea it was to throw the shower — to coordinate a gift, send out invitations, and more.

“ I’m super excited to surprise her because she (Mrs. Russell) always seems to know everything,” Zhao said. “She’s always so smart that way, so I really hope that we can pull this off.”

The council invited officers of the Asian Cultural Society and Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society (both sponsored by Mrs. Russell) to attend, along with students from her Calculus 3 class and the other math department teachers. During the shower, they will play games like “How Well Do You Know the Mom?” and enjoy cupcakes topped with snowflakes.

“ She’s (Mrs. Russell has) just done so much for us, especially being pregnant at the same time; that cannot be easy,” senior class council corresponding secretary and theatre senior Maria Costa Scheid said. “We just wanted to give back a little bit. She’s good to us, so we wanted to be good to her.”