In an effort to hear the interests and concerns of WJ’s 3000 students, the SGA and leadership class hosted a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14. The meeting was the first in a proposed series of monthly town hall meetings and was met with a scarce reception.
The event featured an introduction of the class officers, a slideshow highlighting key events including homecoming and then a set-alone Q&A time for any student to express their voice.
“The point of the town hall is for students to be able to meet their representatives, be able to identify their faces so that they can see them in the hall and ask questions, and then it’s also a chance for students to give their opinions about ideas that they have for student events, or get give feedback on how things are going,” leadership teacher Sophie Fierst said.
Leading up to the town hall, the leadership class and SGA spent weeks preparing for the main event. Multiple PSAs, including morning announcements, Instagram posts and posters around the school, were spread out in hopes of drawing in students across the school.
“There’s only so much we can do,” SGA president Mya Andriamalala said. ”Obviously, we want everyone to come to share the concerns and, like, what change they want to see at WJ, but it’s only to a certain extent that you can push things if students don’t want to go or students might not have any ideas.”
The consensus among students has been that the effects of SGA and leadership are minimal. The two teams are working hard to try to flip that script, and the town hall is a step towards that process.
“For the past couple years, people are always like, ‘oh, leadership does nothing.’ SGA does nothing,” Andriamalala said. “And so I think this is, like, our chance to show students that we really do care and there is a purpose between the government at WJ.”
However, the attendance was underwhelming, as the message seemed to be received by blank faces. Hosted in the student commons with an administrator present, only a singular question was asked in the whole 30-minute time span by sophomore Oberon Mack.
“Well, usually I eat lunch here, but I noticed there’s an event going on, so I asked a little about it and I just decided to stick to it,” Mack said. “ I do know a lot of people probably wouldn’t really bother coming because if they don’t eat lunch here, they want to go eat with friends, be where they are.”
With most of the student body being unaware that such an event was taking place, the leadership class will have to take the feedback and come back with a revised plan of action.
“We definitely need to try to branch out as much as possible,” SGA Vice President Clifford Hubbard said. “So getting the morning announcements, social media, of course, like on Instagram. Just do more publicizing and stuff. But again, this one’s our first one, so we’re gonna have a lot more in the year. So we’re definitely going to get it up.”
Future town hall meetings are planned to be held on every second Tuesday of the month, and leadership and SGA continue to invite students to express their concerns and opinions through word-of-mouth, an anonymous Google form, Instagram and more.
