CTHS to host statewide conference

WASILLA — This October, Mat-Su Career and Technical High School will open its doors to approximately 500 students for the state’s largest student leadership conference of the year:

The Alaska Association of Student Government’s annual fall conference is headed to Tech.

The bi-annual conference (held once in the fall and again in the spring) is a chance for students from across the state to come and offer their ideas for change at a school, local, regional, and state level.

The conference, themed Operation Ascension to connect to CTHS’s career-based roots, will feature several workshops run by members of the community in different professions. The goal of this conference is to equip students with the necessary leadership skills to ascend in their chosen career field.

The CTHS student government also has secured several speakers for the conference, including Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Dr. Deana Paramo and a local magistrate.

Students are able to bring resolutions to the conference to be discussed at the General Assembly, when all the schools in attendance gather to debate and discuss issues. AASG is known for its enhancement of student voice in Alaska, and is most notable for its suicide prevention efforts, which have resulted in statewide mandatory teacher training and even a full-length feature film, which has been distributed to high schools across the state.

AASG is committed to giving students a platform to present their ideas and make a positive impact on the world around them.

“We are the future,” says Mat-Su Career and Technical High School senior and conference registrar Carly Ellington. “AASG has taught me that this is my high school career, and I’m going to make the most of it.”

The AASG Fall 2014 Conference is at Tech from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1.

Allie Poe is a senior at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School taking classes in the business field.