Homecoming week consists of spirit days throughout the whole week, posters all over campus and an exciting football game. Winter ball is filled with a decorated gym, hot drinks in the morning and exciting lunch activities. At rallies, you watch or participate in fun games, watch shows from the dance team and band and compete against the other grades for spirit points. What do all of these things have in common?  The people behind it. Student Government is the face behind all these amazing events, and without them, none of these things would be possible. 

“Posters around the school, and hot cocoa in the morning,” freshman Kaitlin Powell said when describing what she thinks Student Government does as someone who has never taken the class. 

People can underestimate all the work that Student Government does before one of their events comes to life, but people like Claire Gossell, Olivia Januario and Dylan Magee know a very different side of the story.

“Very stressful time and a lot of tears,” freshman Olivia Januario said, describing the process of Homecoming, which is a popular event that Student Government puts on. “I spent hours at home and at school preparing for Homecoming, and for a while it consumed most of my time.”

But Januario is not the only student who dedicated lots of their time to events like these. 

“Winter ball killed me,” freshman Claire Gossell said. “We stayed past 12 am cleaning up the dance, and I was already exhausted from the two hour dance before.” Things like these are what most people can take for granted, while students just finished enjoying an amazing dance, the student government stays even later to clean up. 

“Spring student government and fall student government are pretty much the same things, just different events than the last term,” Dylan Magee said, a freshman at Granite Bay High School describing her spring term student government experience. “All events that we put on are stressful and time consuming in their own ways, but seeing the end product is worth the work,” said Magee. 

Throughout the year many events are put on and whether it’s in the spring or fall, and while the events change, the work ethic of student government does not. 

Tamara Givens runs the student government class and has been teaching since 1996. She wants the student government class to create a positive school culture and to make sure every student is included. Givens directs the class but everyone has different jobs and committees so everyone has a role to fill and be a part of. Givens still spends the majority of her day on campus helping out. 

“I think kids indirectly know how much it impacts the school like how they go to prom or they go to homecoming, they see the firework show and they’re having a great time at our events.” Givens said.

“My job is to support them, it’s largely a student run organization, and my job is to support and advise that, not to run it. I run it in some ways, but I let them make their own decisions and such” Givens said.

Student government is a process to get into in itself. Applying consists of a resume, teacher recommendations and an in person interview. Once you make it into the class you attend a retreat with your class where you bond and learn essential skills involving teamwork with the class you will spend the semester working alongside. 

“I think Student Government is a group who has students’ best interests at heart, and our job is to make sure that all the kids here, and our staff, have a great four years,” Givens said, “You know, they can look back on high school and have memories that they are happy about.”