ASC(x2) Q&A
What does it mean to you to be a Colt?
Hunter Vuong
To be a Colt means to be respectful and academically focused. Being respectful for our school and our people is important because who is gonna want to come to Cottonwood if we are all not respectful to each other and accept everyone. We need to be together and make everyone feel accepted in our amazing community. Also to be academically focused means to put academics and every thing first. Just like "Student Athletes" it is the same with "Student Body Officers" we are students first and we need to put our knowledge first.
Jacek Budge
Colts give 100% in everything, they are kind and respectful and hard working. I want to bring those attributes and apply them in ASC.
Yerik Martinez
"The literal meaning of to be a Colt is using the acronym GREAT. This acronym stands for being Goal Oriented, Respectful, Engaged, Accountable, and Tolerant. You can apply this to your academics here at Cottonwood High and it can make you a great student. I believe that being a colt is more than this acronym. For being, what it means to be a colt is taking pride in your school. This means to show outsiders that Cottonwood is filled with students from different backgrounds, leaders, intelligences, powerful athletes, artists, scientists, musicians, and much more! Taking pride can also mean supporting other groups. Cottonwood has so many programs to offer and we shouldn’t have shame on that! Examples of supporting your Cottonwood groups/programs include: attending sports games, theater productions, debate tournaments, dance concerts, GEAR UP events, LIA events, band and orchestra concerts, robotics competitions, drill competitions, and simply attending assemblies hosted at the school. Supporting other groups helps bring the Cottonwood community together and can unite us as one. Also, taking pride can consist of helping the people around you. Inclusion is key to help unite a school and you can be part of that! Help around the students by offering guidance and answering questions they might have about our school. Meet new people by introducing yourself and possibly make new friends. Include people that seem to be left out. We as leaders must show that we are what it takes to be a Colt. We must be role models to our school and community so other people can follow in our footsteps and become like us, a leader that has pride in attending their school. Let’s go Colts!"
What are two Initiatives you will work on as an SBO next year if you are elected?
Hunter Vuong
Two initiatives that I will work on as an SBO will be having fun and exciting themes and giving a better time at activities. Having fun and exciting themes for school activities allows the students to become excited and look forward to the activities and games. The main important thing for me is, I want the people to have fun. I definitely put people first before me and I want the people to have a good time. So whatever there is to do to make sure the people are enjoying the environment, I will do!
Jacek Budge
1. I don't think we listen to the students enough so i will make multiple surveys to plan dances and themes games.
2. To make everyone feel welcomed and included at each event.
Yerik Martinez
"Initiatives are very important when it comes to running for a leadership position. It's what the students are expecting from you. They want to see those initiatives come to life! An initiative I want to work on as a possible SBO is to create more hype/opportunities for our big events such as Homecoming, Colts are Great, Culture Week, and Charity Week. This year, I’ve noticed the lack of hype and participation from the students of Cottonwood. I want to work on creating more participation and promote these events to the max! We can do this by promoting the event weeks prior. Ways to promote can include: fun videos (Tik Toks), flyers, lots of posters around the school, and fun announcements. Maybe even a pre-party during lunch a week prior to the event to showcase the activities and dress up days for that week. At assemblies, we can add more student participation by showing them that there is no shame in showing your Colt Pride! We can do this by teaching them colt chants that are frequently used. We can also give out some colt merch and do some face paint before an assembly for them to express their Colt Pride! Hopefully, these are some ways we can add more student participation and hype for our events. Another initiative I want to work on as a possible SBO is to support and recognize the hard work of teachers. I feel like teachers are underappreciated and don’t get the respect they deserve. These teachers are heroes! They are the ones helping us set up our future in order for us to succeed and they deserve so much more! In my eyes, it seems like they need a set of extra hands. The student government can set up a program where students can sign up to help and support teachers with any in-school work that may be needed. This could help the teachers so much and the students can earn incentives for their cooperation such as a catered lunch, gift cards, free class period, etc. If incentives are not available, we can recognize their hard work with golden tickets and it can also work for any volunteer hours needed. We can recognize our teachers by hosting teacher(s) of the month and students can vote for their favorite teacher. When a teacher wins, they submit a small bio about themselves and what they love about teaching at Cottonwood and us student leaders will create a poster to be hung up with a picture of them, including their bio. By the end of the year, I want all teachers to have a shot of being teacher of the month and I feel like they would highly appreciate it!"
What is one way you would develop activities to make everyone at Cottonwood feel welcome and included?
Hunter Vuong
Going back to what I said, I would like to have fun and amazing themes for the people that is easily accessible, but it will make us stand out. Sports and student sections are what I thrive in. I love to be apart of the people and love to support our students. Having fun tailgates and themes will definitely be key to making everyone feel welcome and included.
Jacek Budge
I think we don't incentives the events enough. I lot of students come to activities if we give the free shirts or food. One idea i thought last year that worked really well was the food truck at the football game. stampede club gave tickets to the food truck and lots of students enjoyed delicious tacos.
Yerik Martinez
"Inclusion is what brings a school together and it unites us as one. It’s what brings all the hype and participation to these fun events the SBOs plan. Developing a way to make everyone at Cottonwood feel welcome and included can be challenging. Realistically, not everyone will participate in events you put out but we can’t let them stop us. Introducing an activity where it can make everyone at Cottonwood feel welcome and included is inviting them to help us with tasks that require large amounts of people. This can be an event where we invite all students of Cottonwood to help us make Colt Pride posters for our homecoming week that we hang around the school. We can either provide a dinner or an incentive where if a specific amount of people attend this event, we can reward them with an extra hour of a dance or have another separate dance! Dances are popular here at Cottonwood and obviously people like to party so an extra hour of partying or even another party would create inclusivity here at Cottonwood. We can also develop inclusion here at Cottonwood by helping out with our community. Another event idea is we can host a schoolwide clean up in the spring where we invite everyone at Cottonwood and our community to help clean up our school. I call it a “beautification day!” This is a schoolwide clean where we pick up trash that is scattered across the school. We can also take this opportunity to create gardens and plant trees that will improve the ecosystem of our school and community. We can provide refreshments and recognize all the students who attended this event by planning a small party that is hosted during a class period. This event could be very successful with the participation of our students and community. It will help our school look so beautiful by the end! There are so many ways we can make everyone feel included and welcome at Cottonwood but these are a few I could come up with. "
What advice do you have to stay motivated with academics throughout the year?
Hunter Vuong
Like I said SBO stands for "Student Body Officer". Being a student comes first and you need to put your academics first. I will always have my work done and ready for the next time and I believe that I can balance between both things.
Jacek Budge
Well i really want to go to BYU. I always have to keep my grades and citizenship so i can have to chance to be accepted.
Yerik Martinez
"Honestly, staying up with my academics has been my biggest challenge through my junior year. With two leadership positions, and on top of that is attending school, it can be a challenge to keep up with the schoolwork. I put so much effort into those positions to the point I forget that I have schoolwork that has to be done. I’ve been in the situation where I am behind on schoolwork and I spend full days just doing the work. It can become overwhelming and stressful. My best advice to stay motivated with academics is that you have to start telling yourself that you are going to get things done. It’s really not that inspiring but it helps me do so much.You can simply look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself some positive affirmations such as “I am a hardworker and get things done,” or “I am an academic student with lots of values and goals.” I tell myself these phrases and it helps me get through the day with a positive mindset and dedication to get work done. I also remind myself that my academics is part of the reason why I was chosen as a leader. I was able to show that I am able to balance both school and leadership. It shows my dedication and hardwork to these things. Completing your academics and being successful with it can bring you opportunities just like this! "