To get more involved, Arlington High School is trying something new. Mr. Ballew, current English Teacher and ASB adviser, coordinates with the ASB and admin to make sure that they are organized and prepared;. He’s also there to help make sure that the Student Council meetings follows the procedures as described in the ASB Constitution.

Basically Student Council was when only four people from each grade got together and talked about school matters. Student Senate is the same thing but with a little bit of a twist to it. Student Senate allows ten people from each grade to participate in the meetings though anyone is welcome.

“The senators are part of a cohesive group of students that come together once or twice a month to discuss school matters and vote on motions of action to improve the school” Mr. Ballew said.

By changing the nature of who comes and what is expected, there is a hope to improve the function of the student council methodology. Paige Nelson, a junior class representative, is looking forward to see if the turn out is different from the old Council meetings. “Before, at the council meetings there wasn’t a lot of representatives from clubs, or from the freshman and sophomore classes. Allowing more to come hopefully gets more people involved in school activities.”

Most of the school’s activities are student run. Leadership and ASB put a lot of work in trying to get others who attend the school, to get up and get involved. Pep assemblies, new ideas for school events such as Homecoming, themes for games etc. come from the minds of our peers.

Brittney Anderson (12) was one of the students that put the Student Senate into mind. She and some others thought it would help the turn outs if they switched it up a little bit. “No freshmen used to show up to anything, we are hoping that the Student Senate will give us a solid number of people to count on for new fresh ideas for out school.”