Q. How long have you been involved with SGA?
A. I was elected as secretary in May of my sophomore year and I‘ve been involved with it since.

Q. What do you enjoy most about your position in SGA?
A. I‘m very people-oriented, so the best part is all the different interactions I get to have with other SGA members, students at Centennial, members of student governments from other Howard County schools, and our staff. Because one of my jobs is to oversee all officers, I get to work directly with basically every member at some point, and it‘s fun getting to do that. As the spokesperson, I also just got to go present to the Board of Education and tell them about what our Centennial SGA has been doing, and as weird as this may sound, I had a lot of fun doing it.  I‘ve also learned a lot about leadership in general, and I really value the experience.

Q. What does your position require you to do?
A. My job includes running meetings, reviewing the SGA Constitution and Bylaws before the year, serving as a representative to the Howard County Association of Student Councils, serving as the official spokesperson (I just presented to the Board of Education this past Thursday), overseeing all officers and appointed staff, and overseeing all activities.

Q. What does the SGA do?
A. We plan the majority of the social activities at school and we do a lot with community service. We also have smaller tasks such as Student Member of the Board elections, next year‘s SGA elections, Senior Teacher of the Year, etc.

Q. What does the SGA look for in new members?
A. It‘s really important to be able to commit fully to SGA. A lot of it is about teamwork, and if someone is unable to hold their weight, it affects the whole group. It‘s also important that an SGA member is driven, reliable, and can communicate well with others. We also try to find a spread of personalities; we want to be able to have as much of the student body represented as possible.

Q. Were there any difficulties joining the SGA or working in it?
A. I was lucky enough to be elected into my desired position both times I ran (first as secretary, now as president), so I didn‘t have to go through the process of interviewing for an appointed position. The application process for appointed positions is much more intimidating, in my opinion. The most difficult part about running for these positions was getting my name known and letting people know why I was a good candidate for the position.

Q. What can others at the school do to help the SGA?
A. We always could use help advertising! So participate in our events and activities and encourage your friends to do the same.  The things we plan for the student body are usually more fun when we have more students participating.

Q. Who does the SGA have to pitch new ideas to, or talk to for new policies to be passed?
A. When an SGA member comes up with an idea, they send me an email or let me know and I will then add it to the agenda for the next meeting. We discuss it at the meeting and vote on the idea. If it is approved, we then have to get the administrations approval.

Q. Has the SGA received special recognitions or rewards for their work?
A. No, you have to apply to receive most awards. We almost applied for one award, but it would have taken a lot of time and we decided that it was more important to direct that time towards the school.

Q. What do you do in your spare time besides these SGA?
A. I do a lot of stuff with my church. I‘m currently planning a mission trip for the summer for a group of seniors at my church. I‘m in the process of getting things nailed down, but I think there is a good chance we‘ll be going to Uganda. I‘d also really love to be able to go help in Haiti. Also at church, I lead the sixth grade girls. Other than that, I really love to swim, but stopped doing that competitively part way through my sophomore year and I baby-sit a lot- I love working with kids.

Posted on 2010-01-22