On October 8, Springbrook High School hosted the first Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association (MCR) General Assembly (GA) of the year. General Assemblies give students from across Montgomery County the opportunity to have their voices heard by the countywide, high school-level student government. Any student, not just school SGA members and officers, may attend.
Weeks of hard work by the MCR Executive Board and advisor Karen Crawford finally culminated when buses began to pick up delegates at around 9:30 a.m.. The GA began with delegates checking in and enjoying breakfast and refreshments while students waiting for the GA to begin.
At 10 a.m., students entered the auditorium, where they took their seats. MCR president Carmen Huynh called the meeting to order and discussed what would be on the agenda. MCR Legislative Affairs Director Ben Feshbach talked about a budget priorities survey that the Lobbying Department had created to gauge students’ opinions and get a sense of which things students want at the forefront of MCR’s budget advocacy. The primary function of the budget priorities survey is to give input to the Lobbying Department to compile a budget priorities handbook. This handbook would summarize what students think is important to focus on, and would be sent to Superintendent Joshua Starr before he releases his December operating budget.
Attendees were sorted into eight groups, each led by two members of the MCR Executive Board. Group leaders gave an overview of the survey students would be taking and discussed all of the survey questions, which touched upon countywide issues such as school start times and budget priorities within each individual school, such as the accessibility of guidance counselors. Groups were then led into the computer lab where each student had the opportunity to take the survey.
After all eight groups were finished taking the survey, the crowd reconvened for reports from MCR officers and an informative presentation from Changesnap, a nascent organization founded by Whitman students that aims to serve as a forum for social awareness projects galvanized and maintained by youth.
As the meeting drew to a close, students were given evaluation sheets to rate the overall quality of the General Assembly. The average rating was 4.26/5. Attendees made their way back into the cafeteria, where they were offered pizza and refreshments as they awaited the arrival of their busses.
Article by Alessandra Lowry, MCR-SGA Press Correspondent to the MoCo Student