There exists a common misconception that student government is merely a collection of the “cool kids,” and therefore other students cannot contribute their voices to the decisions of the organization. Santa Margarita Catholic High School broke this misguided belief through its annual ASB Leadership Camp. From July 13th to 15th 2011, Santa Margarita High School invited current student government officers as well as non-officers who were simply interested in school leadership on a three day leadership retreat at the Irvine Outdoor Education Center.
Associated Student Body (ASB) is a common organization that exists amongst most schools. It is a collection of student leaders who desire to lead the school by planning various activities and representing the student body’s interest in different meetings. Santa Margarita High planned a retreat where students came together to discuss and plan upcoming events for the next school year, to ensure that the students’ opinions were represented to the fullest. Students communicated ideas for homecoming, spirit rally ideas, and fundraising activities.
In addition to all these discussions, the camp was also characterized by fun activities such as team competitions and the famous Santa Margarita Annual Air Guitar Competition. Throughout the course of the camp, all the camp members were divided into groups to rehearse for the air guitar competition, which was a combination of both lip-syncing and dancing. It was comical scene when all the students danced to different songs and attempted to lip-sync at the same time.
Timothy Park, Santa Margarita’s ASB President, said, “ASB camp was an awesome way to get to meet new people who also want to contribute to the school. It was a time of bonding and I hope it can repeat every year!”
Santa Margarita continues to expand the reach of ASB to encompass the opinions of all the student body in order to ensure that the school is based on the needs and wants of the entire school.
