Career Tech hosts Alaska Association of Student Governments fall conference

WASILLA — Inside the Mat-Su Career Tech High School cafeteria, more than 500 students from across the state gathered this week for the Alaska Association of Student Governments Fall Conference. All the students present were active representatives for their regional student government bodies. Some 47 schools made an appearance, coming from various shapes and sizes, big, small, private, spiritual, charter and public. From as far as the Aleutian Islands, students, parents and advisers all travelled by boat, air and road to convene for the largest function in the association’s history. The entire conference was run by the students for the students, with the mission to enact positive changes for the entire state. Each conference has a theme. The fall conference theme was “Civic Duty.”

Over a three day period, sessions were held to discuss 15 resolutions — 14 passed and one failed. The AASG Executive Board is made up entirely of students from all over Alaska. Officers are either elected or selected by interview. The AASG Executive Board (Acting President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and so on) sat at a long table in the middle to oversee the process while a slew of students sat in folding chairs, filling the entire cafeteria, periodically stepping to the microphone to speak.

Saturday was the final day of the conference, and the day’s closing ceremony saw awards, gratitude and sprees of silliness after the previous two days of seriousness. There were “special resolutions” filled with inside jokes, witty one-liners, and goofy nonsense. Resolutions failed and passed in real time. Most were passed since they were mostly met with great success. All were projected onto big a big screen and passed resolutions were added in real time.

Some examples of the Special Resolutions include, “28. Whereas, hitting the snooze button on your alarm button 5 times is a human rights violation,” “41. Whereas, Hunter was prepared for a flood on Friday,” and one student came to the mic and proposed a resolution, “Whereas, oh yeah!” To which the whole room replied, “Oh Yeah!” and the resolution was passed.

The room roared with a thunderous applause and laughter at the appropriate times. According to various staff advisers, this closing ceremony was a cathartic release from an otherwise work-heavy week to get a lot done. The students had their share of chants, cheers and claps. They even had a finger snapping system to rein in the chaos to quiet down. Which many adults admired and some even said they wished the actual legislature functioned as well.

According to the two advisers for an Anchorage’s Lumen Christi Catholic School, what they witnesses was an amazing accomplishment and inspirational outcome.

“They had absolute respect for the process and each other,” said Liz Loeffler, Lumen Christi School adviser.

Madison Stadem and Mayia Gustafson were the registrars for the conference. They said that they were the ones in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly and “correctly.” To them, the conference was a huge success and they were happy to see so many high schoolers show up to “create change.”

“I think it’s really cool,” Stadem said.

One of the major resolutions passed was a motion to add choir to the roster for statewide competition, so school choirs from across the state can compete with each other. Akin to actual bills, the AASG resolutions go through many steps and when they are ready, they go to the Alaska School Activity Board (ASAA) for approval.

AASG president Hunter Carter is a junior from Bethel Regional High School. He said that instead of running workshops at the conference like usual, this time, they focused on a huge list of resolutions in an attempt to get more done.

“It was a good sacrifice. We got a lot done in this conference,” Carter said.

Carter noted the large turnout. He said this was the first time the group ever had to close registration, which to him, although it was unfortunate to have to limit students, it was a “good sign” big things were in motion. He said students may be at the whim of adults, but student government gives them a voice. To him, the student government was a way to improve their situations and be heard because no one knows what works and what doesn’t work more than the students.

“All the adults were on the peripheral. Big schools, small school- all these students want to create change for their state,” said Beau Palumbo, Lumen Christi School adviser.

After the ceremony, there was a lunch for the many out of towners for their long trek home. All the students mingled with each other, sharing hugs and high fives. All the advisers commented on how great it was to see the students from different backgrounds hit it off so well.

“That was amazing! I’m so sad it’s over. It was probably the most stressful three days of my life but it was so worth it,” Gustafson said.

Logan Farrar from Mat-Su Career Tech said this was her second conference and her first time hosting.

“I think it was a great experience. It taught us to come together very quickly,” Farrar said.

The host students handed out handmade pinwheels the giant crowd. The next conference will be in spring. The date is yet to be determined but the theme is: “Winds of Change.”