By Hiba Rashid, student reporter
Photos by Ms. Cheng
(Ms. Cheng's note: This is Hiba's follow-up to our previous feature on Student Government: "Meet the new student leaders")
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| Student Government 2010 - 2011. From Spring 2011 |
As the successors, Anthoulla Themistokleous and I interviewed the current President and Vice-President, Max Poumie and Ogo Morka to gain more insight about Student Government. We began by asking further about the purpose of this system in East-West. “Student Government gives students something to believe in and assure that their voices reach the administration,” according to Max. The students need representation to realize that their opinions matter, even in the school environment. This idea intertwines with the main goals of Student Government including the unification of the high school and the middle school.
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| The incoming Student Government, for 2011 - 2012. Cabinet members (top row). Student representatives from 6th to 12 grade (bottom row). From Spring 2011 |
Student Government is a committee in East-West which was created in its first year to allow our students to have a voice in school beyond the classroom. Students can contribute to better experiences and the success of our school. Meetings are held once a week, where members gather ideas and take initiative to put them into effect. Ms. Marinos is the supervisor of this committee and is responsible for making the magic happen. Student government goals and priorities include raising money for school, as well as encouraging school spirit and student involvement. There is even an official Student Government Constitution.
As President, Max was responsible for thinking of new ideas, debating decisions, leading meetings with administrators, writing proposals, and assuring they were approved. The Vice President had similar obligations and assisted in writing proposals, taking over when the President wasn’t available, and consulting with the Chancellor.
We discussed the most significant accomplishments of Student Government in this past year. Max mentioned that the team was able to “stay true to their promise” and meet all the expectations. These included putting up the flags in the hallways to celebrate diversity, creating the official school store, and organizing memorable events such as “The Glo” and the Olympics. Student Government established “The BOIS” (The Bank of International Studies) which provided their own account to keep and manage the money they fundraised. Leaders then give grants to support extracurricular activities after school.
Max and Ogo were most proud of creating a structure for Student Government, especially since this was the guinea pig year for this system. They were able to establish a separation of powers, check and balances, and all the components of a democratic government; this is also evident in the Student Government Constitution.
Next year, Anthoulla and I hope to continue the goals which were left incomplete from the previous year and create new ones. Max and Ogo gave us a foundation and hoped for us to “finish what we started” and learn from their mistakes. They advised their successors to stay confident and determined. They believe we will believe in our ideas and keep fighting until they’re fulfilled.
We look forward to the new school year. Thank you Max and Ogo for providing us with your opinions about Student Government and “setting up for our success!”
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| The incoming and outgoing student leaders. Ogo Morka and Max Poumie (top). Hiba Rashid and Anthoulla Themistokleous (bottom). From Spring 2011 |
Incoming government:
Cabinet
- Anthoulla Themistokleous
- Hiba Rashid
- Tameem Ahmed
- Katherine Gutierrez
- Cameron Burrows
Representatives:
- Kern Hui
- Carlos Coreas
- Isabella Franca
- Cynthia Yip
- Sonia Bhardwaj
- Lorin Cheung
- Jimena Galindo
- Brian (Yu) Park
Outgoing Government
- Max Poumie
- Ogo Morka
- Cameron Burrows
- Brian (Yu) Park
- Anthoulla Themistokleous
- Katherine Gutierrez
- Carlos Coreas