Wasilla High junior reflects on her time as a Wasilla City Council student representative

WASILLA — As another school year comes to an end, Wasilla High School junior Sophie Morse looked back on her time as the school’s student representative, interacting with the Wasilla City Council.

Morse said that she was drawn to this role for the same reason she was drawn to student government: to work with people and make a difference.

“I really want to make a difference in the school system and I wasn’t feeling like I was doing that in student government because we were just making signs, or posters, and planning homecomings,” Morse said.

Morse was introduced to the Wasilla City Council last year. At the beginning of this school year, she started attending meetings regularly as a student ambassador, sharing what’s going on at the school.

“The government is something they can actually and go hear about- participating, not just something that you see on the TV or read in the newspaper. It’s something they can actually be involved in and the government wants to hear what they have going on,” Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle said.

Cottle recognized Morse at the council’s regularly scheduled meeting on April 22. He said that he started this interaction with the school to encourage communications on both ends. While the school board has been doing similar efforts with their student advisory boards for several years, he said that he was the first Wasilla mayor to unroll this government and student interaction.

“I wanted the relationship between the school and us. What they have going on is important to us and what we have going on is important to the schools,” Cottle said.

She spent this last school year communicating with the city council, observing meetings and how they operate, and developing her professional leadership skills. She said that she enjoyed dressing up for these formal meetings.

“It kind of gave me a sense of the professional, business world,” Morse said.

This city government to school interaction stemmed from her involvement in her school’s student government joining as a freshman. When she was a sophomore, her civics teacher, Anthony Jensen, suggested she give the ambassador position a try. She was also encouraged by a fellow student who already served a term in that role.

“I asked her, I was like, ‘is this fun? What was it like?’ She said it was a really good opportunity so I was like, ‘I’m interested.’ And that was that,” Morse said.

During her freshman civics class, she said that Jensen encouraged her to participate in student government just like he did this year with the ambassador position.

“He kind of gets a feel of all the students who he thinks would be a good fit for student government and I think that’s how I started. He said ‘I can tell you’re interested,’” Morse said.

Morse felt like being an ambassador to the city council was the next step to help make a difference.

“Well I joined student government so I could make a positive impact and so I thought that being part of the council would do that because you’re sharing information with adults who have the power to change things in our school system,” Morse said.

Morse sees a problem with school spirit at WHS. She said it’s not really there but it should be, only seeing small fragments of it here and there but overall, it’s just lacking. She puts great stock into school spirit and wants to more see more students feel that spirit and sense of unity.

“I think school spirit is one of the big things. It just makes high school more fun, I feel like. Throughout student government, like the whole time I was I in it that was probably our main goal” Morse said.

She said that she wasn’t in student government this last year because of the ambassador position, but she is planning on running for office next year. She said that she hadn’t held any office positions beforehand and she’s aiming for vice president or secretary.

“I think there’s so much that can be changed… I know a lot of it’s budget issues but there’s a lot of stuff we can improve on and that’s why I was interested in it mainly,” Morse said.

No matter what she role takes on, she plans to promote more communication and synergy between all the student government members.

“If we’re all on the same page, I feel like if we’re all friendly with each other, we’ll work so much better,” Morse said.

No matter what, she wants to keep striving for positive change in her school and the district during her last year of high school. When she graduates, she will pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing. As to where she will go to college, that’s still up for consideration.

She is leaning towards Washington, but may consider Oregon but no further than that. She’s said that she’s partial to Washington because she has a lot of family down there, plus it’s close to Alaska, and has its similarities.

“It reminds me of home,” Morse said.

Morse has wanted to be a doctor since she was a little kid and she’s always loved science (preferring social science over natural science). However, she changed her mind to favor the role of the nurse. She said that while doctors are of course important, it’s the nurses who really prevail as making the most difference since they spend more time with patients and are known for providing moral support.

“If you’re ever in a situation where you’re in the hospital for a long time, I feel like it was the nurses who made your experience better or worse,” Morse said.

She said that her experience with student government and the city council will help her in the long run because it sharpened her leadership skills which will roll over to any position out there.

“She’s done a great job. She’s been a good correspondence for us, building a bridge between us and the high school,” Cottle said.

Morse said that before she was involved with student government, she went through a really hard time. She said that pulled through and thought that if she was ready and able, she should help other people pull through too.

“There must be a reason for it… if I’m here and doing okay I should use what I have, like my love of science, to help other people,” Morse said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com