(Left to right) Student Government Association adviser Shannon Biggs and freshmen Aliyah Arnold and Gerardo Navarro attend an SGA meeting on March 16. Biggs views both Arnold and Gerardo as future leaders within the SGA program. “I’ve got a couple (of freshmen who could become SGA officers) that I can think of right off the top of my head. (Navarro) is a great student and he has been involved for most of the year in SGA,” Biggs said. “Then I’ve got a couple of people that just started coming like (Arnold), she is also in band and, again, a great student and would make a great leader and officer.” Photo by Jordan Rhym.
By JORDAN RHYM – Lead Copy Editor
Clarke Central High School Student Government Association adviser Shannon Biggs reflects on her first year as the SGA adviser and what the program plans to accomplish before the 2016-17 school year comes to an end.
Lead Copy Editor Jordan Rhym: How has your first year as Student Government Association adviser been?
Student Government Association adviser Shannon Biggs: It’s been good. We’ve had a little bit of a drop off (in members), but I think that happens every year from what I understand, and I’m really excited to see how SGA can grow from here. We’ve got some ideas and plans in the works. The seniors are going “Man I wish we were coming back next year.”
JR: What are some of the projects SGA is working on?
SB: We are working on a website. We have a website but it’s cumbersome and not as easy to work through, so we’re looking at changing that up and then we’ve got some other things that (members) are wanting to do. So we’re working through some of that on how we actually go about doing that.
JR: What are SGA’s end goals for the year?
SB: (The website) is an end goal for this year, and then one of the things we will do is when we hold elections at the end of this year for next year, one of the positions that will be up will be a communications position. It is that era. You have to have a communications position.
JR: How competitive are the elections?
SB: I’m hoping (the SGA elections are) a little bit more competitive this year. And some of it is (that SGA has) some pretty stringent requirements, just grade and behaviour wise. If you’re getting into trouble a lot, it’s not going to be the position for you because it is so involved and we really do want you to be an example for the school. So it is important that students keep their grades up and watch themselves in and out of class, being champions.
JR: What are traits do you look for in officers?
SB: The president, we do want somebody who has been involved in SGA. President and vice president, those are two positions and those are senior positions. You have to be a senior in order to be president or vice president. As far as the other positions, they’re not as stringent as far as having been in SGA. I do want you to have been at meetings this year, but you don’t have to have been (in the program for) a year, because if you’re about to be a sophomore, I’m OK with sophomores in these positions.
