Student leaders govern the school

Student Leadership and Student Government are two clubs in Milton Area High School that may seem similar, but are the concepts the same?

Student Leadership is advised by History Teacher Mr. Nicholas Vega, who adopted the club at the beginning of the 2019-20 school year.

Student Government is advised by Science Teacher Ms. Kathleen Bower and Social Studies Teacher Ms. Kellie Brouse. Student Government has been doing everything they can to make up for the lost time last year, said Ms. Bower, who has been working with the organization for the past three years.

According to Mr. Vega, to get into Student Leadership, students just have to show up to a meeting and enjoy what is being discussed.

On the other hand, the process to get into student government “has changed” in recent years. It used to be one representative from every Pride was sent to the advisors by the second week in September; now it is purely volunteer based. “Anyone who is interested can join,” Ms. Bower said.

Student Government changed its policies when the school changed from yearlong courses to semester-based ones, according to Ms. Brouse.

“We do require participation in at least one major project and attendance of meetings, and if students seem to be losing interest, we will ask if they still want to be in the club or not,” Ms. Bower added.

The plan for Student Leadership is to reorganize it and allow students who want to be involved will be allowed in it, plus people who were already in it can stay involved if they chose to. “I want it to be organic and exciting,” said Mr. Vega.

The plans for Student Government haven’t changed from past years, said Ms. Bower, adding that Student Government is more than leadership. Students work directly with the principal and run activities with the school, including a monthly presentation to the school board to keep them updated, said Ms. Bower.

“We want to be the voice of the students, and bring back a sense of school spirit and pride in the Milton School District. Be proud to be a panther,” said Ms. Brouse, who has been advising Student Government since 2001.

Student Government has a group of students that are the officers. If more than one person is interested in holding an officer position, it goes to the members to be voted on, said Ms. Bower.

“We kind of want to be the group that picks up the school spirit and communicate with community and the school board,” said Ms. Bower.

Student Leadership will have no single formula, according to Mr. Vega. It will involve team building activities, public speaking practice, and guest speakers who are in leadership positions. The overall goal is to build better leaders, he added.

“We want to make student leaders, give students the skills they need to be better leaders, and we want to give them the skills to help them in the future,” said Mr. Vega.

According to the membership numbers on Microsoft teams, Student Leadership currently only has nine members.

In a perfect world, 15-20 kids is ideal to have a good group for Student Leadership, the meetings for Student Leadership is every other Thursday, said Mr. Vega.

According to the membership numbers on Microsoft Teams, Student Government currently has 38 members. “We have more members today than we have had in a while,” Ms. Brouse added.

Student Government with officers and another 30 members would be an ideal size because there would be enough kids to volunteer for things and it wouldn’t be the same members doing everything, said Ms. Bower. Student Government meetings are every other Wednesday.

Ms. Brouse said that since she started advising Student Government in 2001 the climate has changed. “We do not have a homecoming parade or a large student presence at our athletic event,” she said, as an example of the differences.

Student Leadership kind of faded over the last year due to the pandemic, said Mr. Vega. Since Student Leadership was a large group, it would have been very difficult to contact trace, he added.