Prom ticket prices, the quality and frequency of school wide events, the communication between students and staff: These are all things your student officers directly impact. Usually, student government elections would take place in mid-May. However, all officials are running unopposed this year. It’s still important to know the kind of roles your class officers need to fill. Morgan Student Government has a variety of duties, and the job of the student body is to pick the candidate they feel is most capable to fulfill those duties. It isn’t common that there is no election, so prepare to cast your vote in future elections here at Morgan. 

Many students at Morgan who have participated in student government vouch for its importance, “I think student government is really important because it gives students a voice to be able to make change and allow for the things that are important to them to be heard by not only other students and the faculty here, but the administration and even the board in some cases,” said rising senior class president Sean Davis.

Structure

Before we get into the details, it’s important to understand the structure of student government. Each class has four

 elected officials, a class president, a class vice president, a class treasurer and a class secretary. These officers meet separately with their advisors, who are Morgan teachers that volunteer their time to meet with and help student officers. Beyond class officers, there are executive board members. The executive board of student government includes the student body president, the student body vice president, and two to three other members. Some years, student government has had a member at large. The job of these members is to communicate the doings of student government back to their class. Once the year has started, class officers will meet in separate meetings with their representatives and advisors to start planning. Representatives are non-elected individuals who choose to attend student government meetings in order to express their ideas, help their officers execute fundraising, or in order to gain experience to run the following year. Advisors are Morgan teachers and staff who volunteer their own time to help classes raise money. Those who are class officers or class representatives are responsible for matters pertaining specifically to their own class, while the executive board attends to matters relevant to the student body and the whole of student government.

Qualifications for Running

All the class officers are elected positions, and in order to run, you have to have held a representative position or an officer position. Then, candidates must collect signatures from both their peers and teachers. Unless a candidate is running unopposed, they are required to make a speech to their class. Speeches usually take place during advisory in the auditorium. This year, there will be no speeches since all the candidates are unopposed. 

There are different qualifications needed to run for an executive board member position. The individual must be a rising junior or senior, who has participated in student government for at least two years.

Every candidate must be in good academic standing, be able and willing to attend meetings at least once a week for their class and for student government wide meetings, and be responsible for the tasks that they are assigned to execute events or fundraisers.

Responsibilities 

Student officers, starting freshman year, open a bank account and raise money for their class. In order to raise money, class officers must come up with unique ideas to fundraise. These fundraising events can be anything from a merchandise sale, to candy grams, to sports events. In order for this fundraising to take place, much planning must be done. Officers are frequently emailing, attending meetings, and spending hours outside of school looking for anything

they may need for an event to take place. The money that is then raised from fundraising in freshman and sophomore year is used to put down a deposit on a prom location in the spring of sophomore year. That’s right, prom locations for both junior and senior prom need to be planned a year ahead. The deposit needs to be set down, and the date needs to be set. From there, class officers will continue to fundraise to cover the costs of DJs, catering, venue prices, and any other fees that are included in the prom bill. This money is used to chop the price of prom tickets. So, the more money that’s raised, the cheaper tickets will be. That being said, class officers can plan and fundraise all they want, but without the participation of their classmates, a profit will not be made. Student officers must get their peers involved in order to make money. That means they are also responsible for advertising their fundraisers and getting people to show up.

The other main job of student government is to be voices for the people. At every student government meeting, there is an open slot for officers to advocate for any concerns of their peers. “I encourage anybody that has an interest in leadership or having their voice be heard to run or attend the meetings. Anyone can show up I think it’s a great way for anybody that wants to be involved in the community to have their voice heard and have what matters to them presented,” said Sean Davis. These concerns are usually followed up with administration. As long as change regarding the concern is plausible, then change can happen. As previously stated, these meetings, which take place every other Wednesday in Student government advisor and world language teacher Laura Luther’s room, are open to anyone who would like to attend and voice their opinion. 

Principal Keri Hagness and Assistant Principal Chris Luther oftentimes visit student government meetings, whether they are simply checking in or presenting ideas. This past school year, they came to more than one student government meetings to present and discuss the new schedule for next school year. Not only are your officers responsible for initiating conversations regarding student voice, but they are frequently confronted with ideas from our administrators who are looking to make improvements. It is important that student government officers are confident in their ability to articulate student concerns to staff and administration.

Get Involved

Student government has noticed a decrease in involvement for students who would like to participate in and run for student government positions. Student government here at Morgan is unique. There is so much opportunity to make change and be heard. Without participation from representatives, class officers are without the much-needed assistance from their peers that is essential to the success of class events and fundraising. The involvement of student government is crucial to the student voice of The Morgan School. It is our duty as students to declare ourselves a seat at the table, and with insufficient involvement, we are surrendering our voices. “I believe student government is super important for expressing the voices of the people in our school and making sure the students are represented, and we can talk to administration, which is super great to get everything that we need to get sorted out,” said next year’s student body president Leah Scoppa. It is also important to note that not all fundraisers have the goal of raising money for the prom, fundraisers can also serve the purpose of raising money to donate to organizations that students feel are important.

Leadership experience is incredibly important. It opens windows of opportunity for any student. Whether it be a final touch on your resume, or the fulfillment of being a key part of the mark your class leaves behind here at Morgan.