North Harford’s Student Government Association (SGA) recently held elections for their 2020-2021 officers in grades 9-12. The elections were held within the Executive Board. Mrs. Elizabeth Martin leads this organization within the school. 

     According to Mrs. Martin, SGA is a group of NHHS students that range in grade levels. These students are charged with managing different events from school to county to statewide affairs, taking NHHS’s voice to “all levels.” 

     In addition, SGA helps plan activities such as pep rallies, spirit week, homecoming, awards ceremonies, hosting county HCRASC meetings, Hawkstock and assisting with other programs, policies and initiatives around school. “Members are elected by the student body, and others may be appointed by the elected officials to help with specific tasks or areas of interest,” shares Mrs. Martin. 

     For the Executive Board, Erica Otte was elected President and Grace Herron was elected as Vice-President. The new Treasurer is Joshua Woods and Sam Pryzchoda will serve as Secretary.  In addition, Blake Carberry is the newly elected Sergeant in Arms.

     The SGA held their first meeting a few weeks ago. They new officers mainly focused on planning fundraising events. They intend to host dining out nights to raise money. 

   Also during the meeting, Herron taught a workshop on Parliamentary Procedure. These are the rules that “govern a general assembly and their processes,” Herron shares.

     Herron helps with overall operations such as Parli Pro, Executive Board positions and whatever the officers want her to do. “I try to help Erica to the best of my ability,” she reports. 

     As president, Otte plans meetings, whether it’s for the General Assembly or Executive Board meetings for which she creates agendas. “I also plan events with the rest of the executive board, such as (hopefully) prom and fundraisers (we are planning an upcoming fundraiser at Chick-fil-A).” She’s also the spokesperson for SGA, meaning she makes speeches on behalf of the students. “My position is a great opportunity to connect to students and make their high school experiences better,” Otte expresses. 

     Woods, another student member of the SGA Executive Board and Junior Class Treasurer, works “side by side” with people who also want to “improve school.” He says he’s “very thankful for that.” Some of his responsibilities as a treasurer include being in charge of all the accounting and financial reporting for the Board. 

    Wood’s financial reporting includes any fundraiser the SGA plans and the money that’s received from them. In addition, he is responsible for making sure the SGA has enough money to plan events and maintains the budget for these school events. Woods also makes sure to listen to what the Board and student body brainstorms regarding ideas about “how we might spend the money to benefit NHHS.”

     Pryzchoda is the Secretary, so she focuses on “taking notes during meetings, taking role call of the officers, and keeping SGA plans organized.” She also does anything the President or Vice President asks her to do.

     “SGA takes responsibility for planning certain school events, for individual grade levels and the whole school,” shares Pryzchoda. She explains that the SGA tries to make the school a better environment for all students by “asking the opinions of delegates and by sharing our opinions as students ourselves.”

     Pryzchoda says it’s “been more difficult to plan events and arrange fundraisers” as a result of COVID-19. The SGA keeps in contact through virtual meetings and collects ideas that they could implement in the future once it’s safe to do in-person events again. Heron shares, “Because everything’s virtual it’s really hard to plan scheduled events, but other than that, we are hoping to have a school wide meeting soon.” The SGA intends to continue having student voices heard in spite of virtual learning.