SGA, one of the most important components of our school, has an exciting new change this 2024-2025 school year. Student Government Association, also known as SGA, is in charge of giving students a voice to express their wishes and matters. They hold elections for class representatives and plan pep rallies, homecoming, proms, tailgates, and other social events for the school. This year, Stephen Horton has been chosen as the new teacher adviser for the class/club and he plans on taking new approaches for upcoming years.
“[I have been] absolutely loving SGA. It has been a huge learning curve for me,” Horton said. “I knew even before that it had so many moving parts, and when you look at it from the outside, it’s one thing, but when you’re doing it from the inside, you realize how much actual work it is.”
Junior and SGA historian Maci Oulton has been in SGA since freshman year and reiterates how this class has helped with time management, organization, and people skills. “SGA to me is a family. We are all very close and have so much fun while still getting work done,” Oultan said.
Many of us recognize his role as the Spanish teacher, and many of us have never had his class but are still familiar with him. The biggest difficulty in the journey is settling in. “Some students have been more accepting of change, some students don’t like change at all, especially at the top, so they have to get used to me” he said. “They have to get used to my way of being, but it’s a two-way street…”
With no prior knowledge of Student Government, Horton refers to his new experience as “a student learning for the first time.” Although he has spent a short time managing the class, Horton can reflect on what he has learned. “You have to be organized. The officers are amazing, and the students are great. It’s just a matter of prioritizing what needs to get done first.”
Because of Horton’s twelve years of experience as class advisor, he has an idea of what he wants the class to be like. “I want the officers to provide and give more lessons, and I want to start the class off with a little quiet time, just to kind of reflect and to give the committees [time to plan].”
SGA’s biggest responsibility is making sure they’re known for doing their part as a student body and getting it done with their small window of time. “We have a lot of meetings and a lot of responsibilities outside this class, especially the officers. We meet here on Friday for homecoming help after school, and there’s different leadership roles that they play outside of school,” Horton said.
One of Student Government’s main principles is to represent, advocate, and act as a whole for the student body. “I’d rather get five things done correctly and done well than 15 things done halfway,” Horton said. “We always show ourselves in the best light.” This class requires fundamental parts when it comes to organization and leadership, but their end goal? For everyone to feel golden.
