Oakdale’s Student Government Association, known as SGA, is a student-led organization that is advised by Ms. Jessica Miller, a history teacher at Oakdale, and Ms.Elizabeth Mulcahy, an ASL teacher at Oakdale. It is a collection of roughly 100 students in Oakdale who organize events for the school and communicate with the student governments in the state and county. 

Madylin Tribbitt, a junior at Oakdale and secretary of Oakdale’s Student Government, explains it further:  “Student government is a collection of individuals who go to Oakdale and together we try to organize fun events and help the Oakdale community become more as a whole and to become more organized.”

SGA meets once a month on Wednesdays during SET. While Mulcahy and Miller supervise the meetings, they are led by the students in leadership roles of SGA.  There are 7 leadership roles: President, Vice President, Secretary, Legislative Affairs, FCASC Liaison, Public Relations Coordinator, and Charity Coordinator.

President, Grace Djoko Tchantcho; Vice president, Arya Paghdal; and Secretary, Madilyn Tribbitt are responsible for communicating with other members of SGA. Their responsibilities include: leading the meetings, hosting executive board meetings, and making big decisions before taking it to the other members for voting.

Legislative Affairs, Indya Brown, is responsible for following up with the Board of Education. FCASC Liaison, Alexa Alexander, is responsible for representing the Oakdale Student Government and coordinating with the student governments within the county. Public Relations Coordinator, Nicole Akumatey is responsible for handling the social media for student government.  She keeps members informed on upcoming events and meetings. Lastly, the Charity and Service coordinator, Cassiel Burghouts, is responsible for organizing charity events. 

Every year, a new President,Vice President, Secretary, and executive roles are chosen. To be an officer, you must at least be a sophomore.  Executive positions can be anywhere from 9th-12th grade. 

Mulcahy explains, “There are elections for President, Vice President and Secretary that happen in the spring, for the following year, then when we come back in the fall the executive positions [FCASC Liaison, et al] are appointed by the advisors and the officers.”

Paghdal joined SGA her 8th grade year and continued since, working her way up to the role of Vice President. Paghdal exclaimed, “I joined SGA because I have the sole passion of leadership. I believe that with leadership you can reach many people and I love engaging with people. Communication is something I’m very big on.”

Student government is a great way to make new friends, get involved with the community, work on leadership skills and teamwork skills and get service hours. It is a very fun way to work with others to help the community.