Decisions about Alaskan schools are almost always made by administrators, school board members and lawmakers. But students also play a role. Twice a year, student leaders from across the state gather at the Alaska Association of Student Government conference to decide on goals to improve their schools.
AASG delegates gathered in the auditorium of Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on April 23 and discussed proposed procedural changes to their constitution.
President Francis Myers, a senior at Sitka High School, guided more than 200 students representing schools from Metlakatla to Utqiagvik through the process.
Students talked amongst themselves before voting. Representatives lifted up handmade placards with school names to cast their votes, and the changes went through.
During the three-day conference, students toured Juneau and conferred with peers across the state to pass resolutions supporting school issues, like offering advanced classes.
Bella Reyes-Boyer is the student body president at Juneau’s high school and helped to organize the conference. She said it was a privilege to host this year.
“It was a lot of hard work put into this conference, and I’m definitely going to take away some more public speaking skills, I think, from this,” she said. “I am so honored to be able to hear the opinions of everyone from around the state.”
Many of the student delegates came from Anchorage, including ninth grader David Pak of Polaris K-12 School. He said he came to the conference with a goal in mind.
“Last conference, I was not – I was kind of shy, and so this year, this conference, I’m going to go all out,” Pak said. “I’m going to speak with confidence, and I’m just going to have fun.”
For students from smaller communities, like senior Dharlene Laroza, who attends the ANSEP Acceleration Academy program in Bethel, the conference lets them see that students from across the state have similar goals and beliefs. She said she hopes to share that with her peers.
“Something I really wanted to bring back is to bring back the experience and like, encourage more student leaders from our community, like we want more people to come to AASG to participate in this activity,” she said.
The organization will hold a conference again this fall. A date and location have not been selected yet.
