Leadership applications are due and spots are filling up.
Leadership is a popular class at Bear River that organizes school-wide events, including “Pump Up Parties,” dances, rallies and student sections at home games. To get into this class you can either run for Associated Student Body office when you are a senior or be a class officer, but one of the most commonly fought for positions are based off of applications. Students can apply to be a Communications Officer, Lunchtime Activities Director, Public Relations Officer, Clubs Director, etc. All of these positions are picked by the ASB officers and the Leadership Teacher Matt MacDonald.
Mr. MacDonald said he believes Leadership is a huge responsibility and honor for any student who earns a position.
“I think just being able to serve the school is a huge responsibility,” he said. “We demand a ton out of our Leadership kids with their time, exceptions and grades but, what makes it special, is the opportunity to be the change they want to see at Bear River. I think that’s why consistently so many people want to apply to be in the class. They want to be a part of that process that makes changes and makes decisions.”
This year’s ASB president, Senior Bella Batula, believes that having Leadership at Bear River is a huge opportunity, where student voices are heard from all cultural and political views.
“Leadership is all about people coming together and focusing on one thing,” said Batula. “In high school everyone has different opinions and perspectives on topics so, Leadership is a place where a bunch of students with different backgrounds can come together and focus on the school.”
Incoming ASB president, Junior Maggie O’Callaghan, wants students to be aware that Leadership is a very hands-on class and to be prepared to work.
“I think what makes Leadership special for kids at Bear River is that it’s a fun class because it’s very hands-on and you’re never just sitting down; you’re always doing something or at least you should always be doing something,” said O’Callaghan. “I think it’s a fun way to show how much you really do love your school. It’s always a fun way for kids to get to know other people and support their school.”
Next year’s ASB Vice-President, Junior Brittany Rogers, wants students to have a say in how the school runs.
“We get to have a say in things and how things work,” said Rogers. “We want to get the students’ ideas and to feel like their voices are being heard.”
Mr. MacDonald explained the tremendous amount of work that the ASB officers and himself have to do in order to get the following year’s Leadership class roster together.
“Based off of our Constitution, that was ratified back in 1987, the way it works is the ASB elections take place, in February or March and, after ASB elections are finished, you do class elections, and then after that, we look at the positions that are available (for applications),” said Mr. MacDonald. “… The ASB president will have the final say, but the ASB officers, with input from myself and the principal, will pick their class. … After that the applications are collected and then the ASB officers will sit down and fill out the appointed position, and then after that they will go through and interview people if there are a lot of applicants for one job.”
O’Callaghan is in charge of getting the applications out to students and picking out from them. She said she wants to keep students informed.
“We take all the kids names who put down Leadership on their class list for next year and then we sit down and kind of look at them and talked about them,” said O’Callaghan. “Then we take the application from last year and make any changes and revisions or new fun questions that we found or take some out that didn’t really work as well last year.”
Rogers and O’Callaghan are both hoping to see a wide variety of students that will bring up the Leadership class as well as work hard to achieve their goals.
“I want to see a wide range of students coming in from all different types of groups, not just certain cliques that are coming in to be together in Leadership,” said Rogers. “It would be really awesome to see a whole variety of people in Leadership next year so we have new ideas.”
“We want to see kids that have ideas who aren’t just complaining about stuff that doesn’t go necessarily as good as it should have gone,” said O’Callaghan. “… The individuality of the applicant is important, that they don’t just write something down because their friend thinks that it’s the right answer. There are no wrong answers or right answers. It’s really just up to the person to show us who they are.”
Mr. MacDonald stressed the most important value for Leadership students is that they maintain honor roll grades.
“The one thing is that we look at is GPA first,” he said. “We want our students to (know that to be in) Leadership, you have to have at least a 3.0 GPA. The other thing we want to see is that you are involved. One of the questions that the officers will ask if you go to Homecoming, or any of the home games, if you have been a part of that stuff. Then they want to find out a little bit more about the things that you are involved in, things all around the school. Everything on campus we want a representative from, every single sport and club is represented.”
Outgoing President Batula said she wants to see next year’s class with a great group of students.
“I feel like we’re looking a lot at adaptability and more variety and diversity,” she said. “We want everyone in the school to feel represented. “When you have a lot of different groups per say involved, then it’s a lot of easier to reach a bigger demographic of students to be involved in activities, so I think it’s just about kindness and about exuding a lot of Leadership qualities.”
