High school forum draws hundreds

PALMER — Students eager to make a difference in their schools and communities found a forum at Palmer High last weekend.

Global warming/climate change, teen dating violence prevention and community service were just a few of the topics high school students discussed at last weekend’s Student Government Fall Conference.

Nearly 500 students from 58 high schools honed their leadership skills at this event sanctioned by the Alaska School Activities Association. It included Mat-Su Borough students from Su Valley, Colony, Houston, Wasilla and the host school.

General sessions drew the students together to discuss issues affecting them. The students leaders considered 24 resolutions submitted prior to the conference. The diverse list of topics included trans fats in school diets, backpack policies, wireless Internet in schools and longer lunch periods.

Some of the resolutions were specific to an individual high school or school district, but others will be presented to the state Legislature.

Students from Palmer High urged fellow members of the Alaska Association of Student Governments (AASG) to help them promote recycling in the Mat-Su Borough School District.

According to the students’ figures, last school year PHS cut waste removal by one-third and recycled approximately 14 trees’ worth of paper.

For Madison Moss, a senior at PHS, it was important to promote district-wide and even statewide recycling at schools to her peers and to decision-makers in the school district.

“We’re the only school in our district, that I know of, that has really good recycling,” Moss said.

Students at Wasilla High put forward a resolution they found practical. With Alaska studies a new graduation requirement this year, seniors are scrambling to fit the course into their schedules. The WHS-sponsored resolution endorsed the course as a freshman offering.

Linnea Holbrook, who helped write the resolution, and Caleana Powder are both juniors at Wasilla High. They said the conference is a great sounding board for ideas.

“I think it’s a good forum for kids from around the state,” Powder said. “I feel like I make a difference. I feel like my voice means something.”

Holbrook said it also allows the students to bring new ideas back to their schools.

“It makes me want to help more; get involved in politics,” Holbrook said.

According to their advisor, WHS language arts teacher Tom Richards, it is a rewarding experience for the students.

“They get to take something that’s really important to them and prove it’s important to other people, and get that validated,” Richards said.

Some of the resolutions were more divisive. A proposal from Ketchikan High School urging the state to creative an endowment to fund student activities program saw the delegates split largely along large school/small school lines. Small schools argued the cost to travel has become so prohibitive their programs are being negatively impacted.

The amended measure will be presented to the state Legislature, which is good news for Chelsea Green, a senior from Delta Junction High.

“It was battle,” Green said. “It was very hard to get the big schools to see what’s going on.”

General sessions, regional meetings and hour-long workshops kept the students busy throughout Friday and into Saturday afternoon.

While some students learned Native drumming, belly dancing, public speaking and human bowling, others tried hands-on science, including salmon ecology and inflating pig lungs.

“We looked at the biological effects of smoking on lungs,” explained Hope Hagerty, a Palmer High student.

“It’s been a blast,” said Palmer High’s Catelyn Dossett, one of the group of PHS students who helped organize and staff the event.

“It was a lot of work but definitely worth it,” added PHS’s Rebecca Kloster. “It was nice to be the ones able to help everyone.”

The work didn’t go unappreciated.

“The quality of this year’s workshops was much better,” said Green, of Delta, who was attending her second conference.

The program wound down Saturday to the political forum, which included presentations by David Boyle, campaign manager for the McCain-Palin campaign in Alaska, and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, the Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate, and a closing session with Palmer Mayor John Combs. Beverly Thomson, PHS science teacher and student government advisor, was pleased with the results.

“I have 31 of the most amazing kids on the planet,” Thomson said of her student volunteers.

AASG delegates meet for their spring conference in April at Mt. Edgecumbe High School.