Student planning and the Student Government Association (SGA). While they may seem to fulfill the same roles, they are actually quite different.
While student planning focuses more on individual class projects such as Puttin’ on the Hits (POTH) and fundraising, the SGA is a mix of students from all grade levels who plan events for the entire school, such as this year’s SGA spring project on safe driving.
The process of running for a student planning position requires five steps. “Students can either run for president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer. If freshmen students want to run for a position, all they do is come talk to me, get their forms, find 40 signatures, make a few posters and write and tape a speech with Mr. Jacobs,” freshman sponsor and technology teacher Lindsey Roberts said. “But the actual voting process is mostly done by the students of the same grade level.”
Students can also participate in class planning without going through the election process. “If [students] want to be involved with planning, they can just come to class planning meetings, join the Facebook group and sign up to participate in events such as building the Homecoming float,” Roberts said.
Freshman Younga Kim is running for treasurer again this year and enjoys the processes leading up to the final election. “It’s kind of exhilarating to run because you get to see all these creative posters and different people run for the position they want. I’m lucky because I didn’t have to go through primaries this year or last year because I was one of the only three people running for treasurer this and last year,” Kim said. “I think that one of the most important parts of the election are the posters you make because most students are just really concentrated on how interesting your posters are if they don’t really know anyone one who is running.”
The SGA is more selective. “I had to go to Mrs. Cresham for an SGA application which had 16 to 17 free response questions,” Freshman Aashna Singh said.
After the application is turned in, the SGA members send letters back to the people chosen from the applications and hold 10 to 15 minute long interviews with them. When Singh walked in, there were people sitting all around her and they asked her questions that were on the application because they wanted to see how well she could communicate with other people.
If students are accepted into the SGA, they are required to take out one period of their schedule. “Unlike a few other student groups and clubs that take place after school or during lunch, such as student planning, SGA takes up a class period in Mrs. Cresham’s room,” Singh said.
Christina Lu
