Organized, Enthusiastic, Committed....
BUT WHAT THE HELL DO THEY DO?
Is it just me or do they spend all year planning parties and pep rallies?
These so called "Leaders" of our school should not be spending there time planning dance competitions to entertain us at lunch, they should be focusing on projects and tasks that are going to improve our school, and better our community.
I'll give it to them, they are a tight knit, well organized group... but I couldn't name one thing that Leadership has done that has improved my education, and my life at SAMO.
The other day, I talked to a friend who is in Leadership, she explained to me that, "Leadership is slow and boring, now that they cancelled all the pep rallies".
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Do something productive.
There is plenty that needs to be done, plenty that needs to be changed... Get on it.
Lead the way.
Truly Yours,
The Grip Doctrine.
40 comments:
Yah. LIKE CLEAN UP THE BATHROOMS.
leadership isnt social hour, do something
damn. thats so true. i didnt even realize how little they do.
cut em some slack. what do you expect when you vote, its a popularity thing , not like anything is gonna get done
welll they are so well organized, they could do a lot of good shit, but they dont
Just a crazy question: can leadership actually change anything related to the classes (curriculum, sizes, etc.)?
probably not,
but they can change the campus, and they can raise money for things at samo that need it. and they can push the board and admin for neceassry changes schoolw ide
yeah josh, you should be the once dancing at lunch
one*
leadership is such a waste of resources
It's unfortunate that this is what people actually think the Samohi ASB does on an everyday basis and frustrates me to no end. Perhaps you do not remember the Cash for Katrina fundraiser, the Values Campaign, the Eddie Lopez Memorial, the Kanye West concert, the Club Days, the resolution written by ASB and adopted by the Board of Education for the first time, Samohi Idol, the monthly special presentations concerning global awareness issues that have occured in Barnum Hall, the Downbeat 720 assemblies, campus beautification projects which some of you may or may not notice, teacher appreciation, Samohi Slam (I kissed Omarion on the cheek), and the approval of funding sources for athletics, clubs, and any other random event that occurs. ASB is not responsible for class size...that is a district issue. Bathrooms and trash are also routinely discussed but any effort put into it is not supported by the students in the school. Plus, ASB is a CLASS with curriculum and grades. Each student does 70 hours of community service and facilitates the work needed to be done on this campus. We're doing debates this week, come by if you're interested. I also invite you to join us on Tuesdays and Thursdays during 4th period for our general session meetings. If you have some proactive solutions, ASB listens and would be willing to make something happen.
this seems more like a rant than a real article. maybe you should post a myspace bulletin not a submission.
i like to make clarifications when necessary.
and i don't do my space..i'm too old for that kind of business :)
For the record, Ms. Marsh, I believe the "rant" comment was directed more at us than at your comment.
got it. thanks for the clarification. by the way, i've enjoyed reading many of the submissions on your site. you guys have officially distracted me from writing my paper for school. nicely done, gentlemen.
Ms. Marsh,
I would like to reiterate something...
The first sentence of this article commented on how "Organized, Enthusiastic, and Committed" SAMOHI Leadership is. We are in no way questioning your work ethic; rather, we are questioning what you collectively choose to work on.
I have talked to numerous members of Leadership, and they expressed that you allocate a lot of your time, effort, and funds, to help causes outside of Samo. You mentioned "Cash for Katrina". You are also raising money to build a school in Uganda.
All of these are great causes, and all of them deserve the attention of the world, but is it your place, as SAMOHI Leadership, to fight for these causes?
I know plenty of kids at Samo who cannot afford a college tuition, why not create a program to help them continue their education?
There has been a lot of racial tension on campus these past couple years, why don't you raise money to help send students on the "Sojourn to the Past" trip (www.sojournproject.com), to help teach them about the civil rights movement and racial tolerance.
There are plenty of issues, in our community at SAMOHI, that need to be addressed.
and quite frankly, for whatever reason, Leadership has chosen to make other causes their top priorities.
Ask students what they feel Leadership does for our school, the majority of them will restate to you exactly what was expressed in our article.
That is not ok.
Leadership is not doing enough to improve the lives of students AT OUR SCHOOL.
Your program is remarkably well run, and organized; but in my opinion, and the opinions of many others, your priorities and focuses are not in sync with what needs to be changed in our community.
Please take this as constructive criticism, and not a personal attack.
Respectfully,
The Grip Doctrine.
well said.
it is true huh, they only do parties, or things for that one uganda girl... our school hasnt gotten better because of them
How about more club days???
1 per month?
As a member of leadership, I understand that there are more things leadership needs to do.however, i also feel it is not only our responsibility, but the school's. We are merely representatives and cannot be held responsible for all of the problems samohi has. We do the best we can, but students at samohi have a huge responsibility as well. They choose who is on exec. board and who has the most power. If you want to vote for your friend and not the most qualified person, go ahead. Only 417 people voted last year in the elections. Maybe you guys should vote
wtf are you talking about, it is your responsibility, it is your job, thats why you guys are so horrible. you're a joke
I understand that it is our job, it is our responsibility,etc. We try to do the best we can and what we can. As of now, there are talks for beautification and unification projects. The problem is lack of student enthusiasm and support. Even if all these ideas were put into effect, how many people would actually show up? Not many. Students at samo are merely apathetic
GD,
I think you raise some valid points and I don't think I disagree with them too much (no offense taken). I'd like to share some background information with you in order to shed some light on your commentary.
Before redesign, ASB was broken into two distinct organizations. Namely, Activities and ASB. The ASB group dealt with school government and reform and the Activities portion put together rallies and "parties".
When redesign came into effect, there was a decision to combine the two and make it Leadership. I think it is at that point where the role of each organization became confusing. On the one hand, you had students who merely wanted to put fun stuff together for the school and on the other, you had students who were interested in government practices. Last year, when I took over the class, there was a concerted effort on my part to help balance the two but it has been difficult. The reason for this is because in the past four years, the students in Leadership were never really encouraged to do government type stuff. Mostly, they were given permission by administration to do those activities that were school-wide such as pep rallies and blood drives. So, in that sense, their role has been very limited.
I don't argue with you that ASB should do more. I have told them that several times and many agree. But it is only until recently that they have figured out that they can do more and that they have the power to do more. I hope that makes sense. Like all things, change takes time and when the class has had four different advisors in four years, there can hardly be a clear message for the group. In addition to this, the folks in elected positions have varied in terms of being effective leaders in the class and encouraging their collegues to do more.
Your comment regarding racism is well taken and hopefully you remember the Values campagin that was carried out by ASB to address the hate crimes on campus. All of the effort put into that was for Samohi but the students didn't respond to it because they don't care about creating a community much like they don't care about Samohi. It would be great if we could fundraise enough to pay for scholarships for folks to go on Sojourn to the Past but a better alternative would be to expand programs on our own campus such as Project Safe Zone and Racial Harmony, one of which ASB is providing full funding for this year.
The fundraisers for the school in Uganda and for the victims of hurricane Katrina were the initiatives of two distinct students who were putting the practice of service to others in action. There is nothing wrong with that. You are doing the same thing with this website.
ASB does plenty of things that are a thankless service to the school. They may not do things that are as obviously public as this website, the Samohi, Yearbook, or the Kronik, but most of students in the class have their heart in the right place and they are moving in the direction of effecting change.
I also don't think it is only ASB's responsibility to make the lives of students attending the school better. I think the commentary from Anonymous is riduculous. How can you really make 43 students between the ages of 14 and 18 responsible for solving all of the problems in a school of 3,200? It is the collective responsibility of those who make the school function to make their lives better. Plus, there also needs to be within the student a desire to want to be better. I think a very small portion of students have that desire and the rest just go through the motions.
So, I think ASB is moving in the direction of being a true "government" organization in that it creates programs and funds those things that are for thier constituents. I think, however, that it is going to take some time. I know you would probably like to see something right away, but they are doing it litle by little.
Be well,
Marsh
amen marsh
thank you for the clarification marsh,
but i think you are wrong in some regards,
i think it is the job of those 43 individuals, to make hte school better for the kids in it. your actions dont have to affect everyone, but they should affect a good amount.. and they're not.
and i think your also right,
i think we have horrible leaders right now, i mean our ASB President, is a joke.
he is one of the founders of the kronik, the paper bashing our school, yet he doesnt do anything as president to change it. not to mention he got kicked out of Y&G for being drunk
so leader
KRS One,
You make good points, but you can do it respectfully.
This is not the forum to bash an individual, especially about activities pertaining to his own personal life (Y&G).
You can be critical, but you don't need to be slanderous.
For your Benefit,
Josh Miller
Grip Editor #1
I agree with KRS 1 but would like to reiterate his point in a less offensive, more succint way.
The role of Leadership is to lead the student body and an irresponsible Leader of the Leaders does not exactly inspire confidence in the system (hence several of the previously posted complaints).
Many people (myself included until Ms. Marsh's post) do believe that Leadership is essentially a social hour/popularity contest and that its staff are using it as their meal ticket to college.
But, The Grip Doctrine is providing a means to improve Leadership/Student Body relations merely by communicating. A perfect example of which is Ms. Marsh's post which has done a great deal already, to counteract the negative view of Leadership.
Lookings Forward to More
◊•◊•◊
∞
Fiasco
To clarify, Our ASB president was actually the only person who was kicked out not for being drunk. He took the rap for students who were caught outside of strict boundaries and was sent home because of it.
Putting myself in everyone that is saying Leadership does nothing on this campus's shoes, I can see how it may seem like that but if you actually took the time to maybe stop by our classroom during a meeting as it is always open for the student body to attend, you might change your mind. A lot of the work that ASB does is not something we glue our name on and announce, we do things that need to be done and tie the loose ends.
KRS One, how can you speak on behalf of the student body and say that the actions of ASB have not affected a good amount of people? Mentioned before, there was a value campaign and more than half of our school was seen wearing those pins though that may be one thing, you talk to us like we have done nothing helpful in the past years.
Random as it is, if you're going to sit there and bash our ASB president, I have to say that you bashing him is particularly ridiculous. If you have such a problem with him, it's your own fault. Do you realize that only a mere 400 people in our school of over 3,000 voted? You could have easily changed who you wanted to represent and hold the position of ASB president. You generously had the right to vote and if you say that you did go out and vote, that's great but did you get your friends to vote? But you might say "that's not my responsibility" well, making sure people aim their piss in the right spot is not ASB's either.
Probably to everyone's surprise we do have a beautification committee that meets every time we have committee meetings. Yes, during the times you all seem to think we just "party" and "socialize". Did you ever stop to notice the stepping stones committee leader Alec Richker wholeheartedly laid down in front of the office last year? I bet you didn't. Next time you see that jolly face of Alec Richker walking down our hallways occasionally rocking a cowboy hat or boots, pat him on the back and thank him.
It just seems so weird that everyone seems to be so willing to push all the blame on ASB for anything that goes wrong and everything that can't be fixed instantly. You all want us to raise money but 43 of us really can't just pull money out of our pockets. We've tried numerous times to make you guys the money that you want with things like SAMOHI slam but we had literally no support, YOU could have helped that and you chose not to. We're always open to ideas you can march right into our meetings and let us know what's up, you can come up to any member of ASB and let us know what you want, but don't sit there and bash us when you yourself have done nothing but put all the blame on someone else when you easily had the ability to help us change something. Realize, that you have the power to change what you want too and you can count on ASB being behind you the whole way through as unreliable as you all may think we are.
so how do i get out of my fourth period class to go to one of your open meetings without my teacher strangling my with a sousaphone?
write me a pass and i'd be glad to come talk with you guys, as it's difficult to leave class without one.
Other than expressing your desire and need to be the best Grip Doctrine Editor you can be to this 4th period teacher of yours, I'm sure that Marsh would be more than willing to hook you up with a pass if you talk to her first.
Not the best Grip Doctrine Editor to my teacher...that would be meaningless to him. The best person, who respects his class as much as possible.
:)
Haha, that would possibly work better for you.
"quit complaining and build something on that ground"
It is great that you guys realize what you would like to see changed at Samohi, and if you feel so strongly about making those changes, consider trying out for the ASB class next year! Take this anger you've built up and use it as positive energy to contribute to our Samohi community.As an ASB member, I would just like to say we all try hard to provide the school with a ray of light amidst the sometimes never ending storm of homework and tests. This is why we put on those special events(we do a lot more than these events, our name just isn't posted on it =] )We also do our best to adress the more serious, current issues facing us at Samohi, but we can only do so much as a group of 50 amoung a sea of 35,000 high schoolers while we are also trying to complete 70 hours of community service per semester, and keep up our grades just like everyone else. Thank you for giving us feedback, as negative as some of it is, and we can now use it to better the Samohi campus and community.PEACE&LOVE
Ok, complaints understood. Some I do agree with. But let me just ask you to do a few things before adding more to your list:
1. Vote. Really, its quite easy. Don't complain about your elected representatives when you had the opportunity to affect those elections. How many of you DID vote?
2. Really, since we're all so social, we'd love to talk to you about your opinions about our class and the school, and even more so, we'd love to talk to you about your IDEAS on HOW to change the problems on this campus!
3. Hey, why don't you join us! We'd really love to have students who are so passionate about the school and making it a better place. So, you can join the class through an application and interview process, or possibly be elected! See Mrs. Marsh for more information. Or, if you don't have room in your schedule, or just despise our organization that much, no offense taken; put some of those complaints into action by providing solutions, or at least trying to.
Really, we love constructive criticism. But what we love even more are ideas about how we can change the problems that exist on campus. And, as a group of just under 50 students, we at least need your support in order for these ideas to happen.
Looking forward to more blogging,
Kelly Snyder (aka "Uganda Girl")
oh, and on the note about cleaning up the bathrooms...how about you flush every now and then? and please, try to aim into the water. and lastly, put the paper into the trash. and, in this way, we can all work together to make the bathrooms a better place :)
So I was thinking about the constant refrain that "43 people can't affect 3000" and decided to do some math. 43/3000 is apporximately .01433.
The US Congress, which is 535/300,000,000, is approximately .00000173
I don't think that purely numbers can be the reason that a group effects others. I mean, think of the impact 300 Spartans had...
:)
haha gooood shitt
point taken. but let me add that a much larger percentage of the population votes for their elected representatives, and actually have somewhat of an idea of what goes on in these elected bodies.
really, all ASB is asking for is your support and ideas. so please, let's try starting a new post about what ideas you the people have about changing the school, instead of just complaining about it.
and maybe you'll support those ideas and projects, unlike the way current ASB fundraisers receive little support from you all. (you did say we should fundraise for programs for samohi students, right? did you come to samohi slam? right, you probably don't even know what it is. way to be an informed citizen.)
"as not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" - J.F.K.
and i say to that, ask not what your school can do for you, but what you can do for your school.
take a little action yourself. even if it's sharing an idea with your complaint.
wow! you guys have been busy. i love it! those of you who need a pass, come see me and we'll set it up. my office is in the administration building. i'm all for proactive action rather than reactive. so, let's "get on it."
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