The ERHS Student Government Association (SGA) allows students to learn responsibility and gain leadership and communication skills. Those involved in SGA advocate for the students, providing a bridge between staff and students. SGA plans and prepares school events, such as homecoming and pep rallies. They meet two times a month with Ms.Truesdale in room 143.
A sophomore, Gabrielle Nunyi, speaks about her experience in SGA. She has been in SGA since seventh grade and describes how SGA “teaches you such important leadership and communication skills that you would never learn in a classroom setting.” These lessons were applied to her life in school by being able to communicate with peers and teachers. Communication is such an important skill she has acquired since joining SGA has been such a benefit to her life in school and outside of school as well. However, Gaby hasn’t only learned communication skills but she has also learned leadership skills. Leadership skills that have assisted her in taking responsibility in SGA. Responsibilities such as helping in planning, and preparations for school events. These school events typically take one week or less to plan, however big events such as homecoming take longer.
Glory Audu, a sophomore, has been a part of SGA for 3 years since 8th grade when she took a leadership position as a secretary in her middle school. Glory explains how SGA has been such a learning experience for her: “It feels amazing to be a part of SGA and to know that my efforts make a difference in the student section and our community.” Glory is a well-known face in our school community and has been able to be the bridge to help staff and students communicate better. By being able to communicate with both parties, Glory states “We review the student’s needs and make changes to existing rules in order to accommodate their wants.” They help schools be a more comfortable environment for students by allowing room for change in rules.
Ms.Truesdale, the sponsor of SGA, explains why she believes SGA is important, and the possible benefits SGA has on staff and students. Ms.Truesdale feels that SGA is important as “ it allows the student body to be involved in an accelerated level of administration within their school, and through that, they are represented through their student government body association officers.” Having students representing their peers helps make things more comfortable and special for students. It also allows people to be more present and involved in school. SGA helps build gaps in the relationship between teachers and students. This is one of the reasons why Ms.Truesdale chose to become the SGA sponsor. “[A]s a young teacher I do see a lot of gaps I could be mending between students and just overall administration and how the school runs so I thought it would be a good opportunity to amplify student voices and the overall culture of Eleanor Roosevelt High School being demonstrated in student official events.” Improving communication with each other can help us have a better understanding of one another, as well as helping things run smoothly in the future.
Ms.Truesdale also describes the benefits of SGA as “a place where students can learn leadership skills before actually being in the workforce… and a great opportunity to boost their resume and their repertoire of things they have done thus far.” By already having leadership and communication skills members of SGA will be able to have more opportunities. However benefits both students and staff, she says that being in SGA has positively helped her by “seeing the joy of the student body as they see themselves represented in SGA events and seeing the joy in my student leaders and their growth is really nice to see.” She has been able to witness the improvement among the student body, as well as the self-improvement with the student leaders. Although she started sponsoring last year, she has noticed changes within the student leaders, “since I’ve been a sponsor I have definitely seen a lot of changes within the students themselves I’ve seen them become more accountable diligent leaders and take on more initiative when it comes to their school and I really appreciate seeing that.” When seeing the effect a club or a school activity has on students, it encourages others as well.
SGA is a group of hard-working students that represent themselves and their peers. This club helps the divide between teachers and students, by having student leaders be the voice for students and advocate for them. This allows students to share their opinions and be heard by adults. They also plan and prepare events such as homecoming, pep rallies, spring fling, etc. These events are planned by breaking the SGA team into committees. Each committee is responsible for its section, for example, they have a decoration committee, a pep rally committee, etc. In these committees, they work together to achieve their goal, which means everyone has to be a team player and benefit from this by learning valuable skills. Their hard work in planning these events makes the school experience more memorable and comfortable for students.
