ASG Town Hall Recap
On Tuesday Dec. 8, at 8pm, ASG live-streamed its first-ever Town Hall on YouTube showcasing the candidates’ campaigns and policies, with a turnout rate of approximately 29 attendees. Below is the IHS Voice’s recap of the event.
Disclaimer: This recap was condensed for clarity and length. To get the candidates’ full responses, watch the full town hall here: ihsvikings.org/townhall
What are you going to do to make sure that you grow as a leader?
Raj:
- Collect feedback from classmates and take them into account
Maansi:
- Ask for people’s thoughts before taking action
- Believes in self reflection
Nosheen:
- Ask people about their opinions on her actions
- Make sure to implement the suggestions that people give her
What experience do you have in the ASG class?
Maansi:
- Current IHS Visualizations Director
- Led IHS Winter Ball and worked with publicity last year
- Led Mask Drive in the summer and worked with several committees this year
Nosheen:
- Joined ASG as Freshman Class Officer and Sophomore Class Officer
- ASG Vice President this year and led the class officers
- Transitioned bench-building to an online platform
Raj:
- Current Junior Class Officer
- First year in ASG, planned fundraisers and events
- Helped with transition of bench-building to an online platform
What students do you think ASG is not reaching out to?
Nosheen:
- Will work with Yearbook and Voice to reach out to more students and clubs
- Reach out to smaller clubs to collaborate on events, so they can get more recognition
Raj:
- Many Irvington students don’t have certain social media
- Next year, use physical flyers and forms to reach out to people who don’t use social media
Maansi:
- Study the interests of the student body and create events that are attracting more people
- Reach out to more clubs and make an effort to recognize them
What are some specific projects you want to implement?
Raj:
- Create centralized feedback form because emphasizing feedback is important and reaches underrepresented students
- Work with Class Officers to create a feedback page for them
Maansi:
- Change the planning format
- Feedback forms usually can’t be applied until the next year
- Will take time in the beginning of the school year to learn what type of events students want and apply them to the schedule
- Work with other clubs like The Voice to learn about other clubs and student groups to reach out to
Nosheen:
- Recognize different clubs and and their achievements during announcements and rallies
- Started Viking Pulse this year and addressed a lot of mental health issues in the Irvington community
- Students facing systemic issues can come light with Viking Pulse
Three words that capture your leadership style:
Maansi:
- Passion: helped start some events that ASG held, like the Mask Drive.
- Purpose: ASG can do a lot with their resources and use their platform wisely to bring in new ideas
- Togetherness: work with people in and outside of her class to make an impact
Nosheen:
- Connections: foster positive work environments and help people reach out to her
- Non-Positional: there’s no limit to what someone can do, anyone can have a big impact on ASG
- Impactful: make sure that whatever she does has an impact
Raj:
- Self-improvement: you can’t grow if you can’t get feedback
- Service-based: loves giving back to the school and wants happy environment that makes Irvington as great as possible
- Empowerment: help all ASG members and school body
Biggest struggle as a leader?
Nosheen:
- Maintaining stamina
- Strong in the beginning of the year, but would burn out easily
- Learn to prioritize tasks without getting stressed out
- Being VP has helped prepare for the stresses of being president
Raj:
- Time management
- Tends to procrastinate and overwhelm himself before something is due
- Overcame this by keeping a whiteboard to check upcoming events
Maansi:
- Easy for people to walk over her
- Learned how to be assertive as an executive council member
- Realized that she was there to represent ASG and the student body, not for herself
Improving school spirit in case school continues to be virtual:
Raj:
- Use feedback from this year to carry out events next year
- Use and implement data and giving clubs shout-outs
Maansi:
- ASG’s service events have been drawing a lot of people
- Think about what to do as they go forward because there are certain events that attract more people
Nosheen:
- Executive council didn’t know how to do things this year because the future was uncertain
- Executive council can foresee better this year and can decide if an event will be virtual or in-person with more experience
- They know what is successful and what is not
Only for Nosheen: Why should you be president for reasons other than experience?
- Can foster relationships and motivate people
- Wants people to know that she’s there with students, and that she’s not above them
Only for VP candidates: What can you take from your experience that will help class officers?
Maansi:
- Gained experience leading the class as a member of executive council
- Helped with class council and was an active participant with bench
Raj:
- Junior Class Officer
- Joined ASG recently so understands student perspective that is independent of ASG influence
- Can help the class officers through experience and behind-the-scenes knowledge from being a class officer