Integrating freshmen into high school life is an important part of having a successful and safe school environment, as being comfortable in their environment may benefit them in an academic setting. The freshman Student Government Association (SGA) is tasked with making school a more exciting and positive place for freshman students, by organizing and thinking of things that they believe will be entertaining for their fellow students.
Seeing and creating change that will be beneficial to their grade is an important role for the SGA’s elected officials in high school. Their job is to make these changes.
The SGA has four class officers for each grade: president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. There is also a class sponsor for each grade. Class sponsors are teachers who also help their classes’ SGA. All of the officers have different roles in their meetings, and the class sponsor is there to guide them.
Just like any school, W-L’s culture changes every time a new group of students come in, and it’s important for the elected officials to take note of this change.
“[The freshman SGA] will implement changes that they want to see in the school,” Ms. Walsh, the freshman SGA class sponsor, said. “If they’re talking to their freshman classmates, and they have complaints, they can raise those issues to me or administrators.”
Since the freshmen officers are just getting started and are still getting used to their roles, Ms. Walsh, as their class sponsor, helps guide the elected officials into their roles by sometimes holding meetings during GP and by letting them know what they should focus on as the freshman SGA. She wants to see them be the best leaders they can be for their students, and is an essential part of the freshman SGA.
“My role is to introduce them into their leadership positions [because] it’s their first time learning about high school traditions,” Ms. Walsh said.
Although the SGA greatly improves student life, many students don’t really know that much about what exactly the SGA does and who is in it, especially freshmen. Integrating freshmen into high school is vital during the beginning of the school year, as they are just learning about high school life and the school that they go to. One way to integrate them is to hold events that will get them involved with the school and get them into school spirit, and the best way to do that is for the SGA to be into school spirit themselves.
“If there is an event where students should be at, [the freshman SGA] should be there,” Ms. Walsh said. “They have to carry a lot of spirit to encourage others to do the same.”
One way to integrate the freshmen is to hold events that will get them involved with the school and get them into school spirit. To be able to hold these events, each classes’ SGA must work on raising money.
“Our role is to fundraise money during the four years of high school for the end-of-senior-year prom and boat trip,” Dylan Walsh, freshman official, said. “As treasurer, I am supposed to keep track of finances and all the money [the freshman SGA] saved up.”
Bringing the freshmen together is just as meaningful as getting them used to high school. Building a community is another critical role in the hands of the freshman SGA.
“We affect freshman lives by trying to organize events to bring people together,” Ben Clendenning, freshman vice president, said.
Another part of these elected officials’ jobs is to raise money during their time at high school.
“Our role is to fundraise money during the four years of high school for the end of senior year prom and boat trip,” Walsh said. “As treasurer, I am supposed to keep track of finances and all the money [the freshman SGA] saved up”.
These freshman officers work hard to make high school a better place for every freshman, and the officials want nothing more than to bring their fellow students together and to make school a more positive experience.
“You can expect [the freshman officials] to have that school spirit and you can expect them to be leaders,” Ms. Walsh said.
