Student elections

    On April 24, AHS’s freshman, sophomore and junior classes conducted elections for next year’s representatives. Each class’s newly chosen leaders will begin to take up their responsibilities at the end of the summer in preparation for the 2008-2009 school year.  Their responsibilities include planning
   
    Graduation, Homecoming and the Senior Prom as well as preparing Homecoming floats and organizing fundraisers.

    Though the governments of each class work together to accomplish these tasks, each member has a specific responsibility.

    “The president oversees everything, the vice president does the same. Secretaries take notes at the meetings. The treasurer is in charge of fundraisers, and senators attend class meetings,” said leadership student Dyasha Arauz.  

    Each class representative seemed equally optimistic about his or her ability to carry out successful fundraisers, increase school spirit and plan fun and exciting pep rallies during their time in office.  One difficulty in following through on these goals, however, is the requirement that the student government work through the administration to plan events and make changes in activities.
 
    “If they [student government] want to do something then they have to go through administration and write up proposals,” said leadership student Gizem Fern.  The administration has denied many of these proposals in the past, preventing a portion of the changes student government has planned from taking affect.

    “The administration has disapproved of a lot of events,” said 2008 class president Laith Abu-Taleb.  “The talent show we proposed about two or three times, but was rejected and we don’t know the reasons.  But Mr. Ponton has been helping us a lot though, He’s really been on our side.”

    Unfortunately, working with the administration is not the only difficulty for the student body. The lack of commitment to class duties seems to be frustrating many current officers.

    “A lot of people [student government leaders] aren’t really dedicated,” according to Abu-Taleb.  “Of the 12 officers, maybe three were dedicated this year.  People do it for college applications and don’t really want to help out.  We need people that have a genuine interest in their class,” he said.

    Furthermore, the newly instituted voluntary election process ensured that only students truly interested in student government voted, and reduced the ‘popularity contest’ element that has been seen in past elections.  This improved the odds of election for representatives that would assuredly pursue student interests.  However, it still remains unclear whether the elected representatives will follow through on their responsibilities, and if they will be able to work through the school’s administration during the coming year.