As the 2021-2022 school year comes to a close, everything appears to be coming to an end. That is, except for next year’s student body presidency; they are just getting started. Next year’s council consists of juniors Selena Pho as Student Body President and Madeleine Balbarin as Student Body Vice President, juniors Clara Harris as Historian and Elle Boyd as Spirit Coordinator, sophomores Austin Clouse as Secretary and Daniel Johnson, and Taumi Spencer as Parliamentarian and freshman Yumi Chan as Publicity Manager. 

As these students start preparing for next year, they have to face what they hope to accomplish. Publicity Manager Chan hopes to “make our accounts more recognizable and do the trends to gain more attention.” Boyd, who is in charge of planning spirit days and assemblies said, “I hope to plan fun events.” VP Balbarin said, “I hope to have a stronger STUGO next year. [I want] to have a say in high-up areas because then my ideas for STUGO and to improve events will be heard.” And President Pho said, “Coming back from COVID, I want to make sure that all our events are planned and getting better and better.”

All the STUGO members seem to be in agreement that the best part of being in STUGO is each other. “It’s really fun getting to know all these different types of personalities, but also, it’s difficult to work around having those friends and also leading them. But the friends are amazing, and that’s why I love [STUGO],” said Chan. Boyd said, “it’s a good environment, and it’s like a family.” Balbarin moved to Perry during her sophomore year, and “I didn’t really have any friends, but I had STUGO. You get really close to them.” Pho said the best part of STUGO is, “everyone in the counsel, since we’re all bonded together.”

Part of being elected for student body counsel is campaigning. “Just getting your name out there [is the hardest part]. It’s just making sure that everyone knows your name,” said Pho. “Campaigning was my least favorite part. Nobody likes campaigning. It was a lot of social media and having to publicize that,” said Balbarin. “[The hardest part] is getting to know the other grades. I feel that I know my grade very well, but getting to the freshman and sophomores is harder,” said Boyd. “I think showing other people why you should be in STUGO [is the hardest part]. When you look at campaign videos, it’s all the same speech, and you want to show that you’re different and you’ll actually listen to the student body and represent them,” said Chan. 

STUGO appears to get a lot of slack for some of their events and plans. “I want [the students] to understand that we have to represent the majority and please the district. We put a lot of work into these events. What you don’t realize is that we spend a month, two months, planning beforehand,” said Balbarin. 

As everyone prepares for summer break, STUGO is still working on end of the year events. “STUGO is the one place where it’s full of a bunch of other leaders and being able to lead those personalities is difficult, but also really fun,” said Chan. Next year, the counsel will take charge, and students will have the opportunity to see what STUGO is capable of.