student sentate

Student Senate

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This year's MSSM Student Senate has hit the ground running and has many goals and ideas for the upcoming year. Our body of 13 student leaders is working collaboratively with the faculty and the student body to provide new services for students, revise existing policies, and aid the MSSM in accomplishing its long-term goals. Each committee has a list of goals it hopes to accomplish in the upcoming year, and although it will take hard work, determination, and collaboration, we are confident that we will be able to meet these goals.

This year the Student Senate is working to provide many new and exciting services for the student body. We are looking into opening a school store for the students. This store would allow students access to products such as school supplies, healthcare products, and school logo items. It is the Senate's hope that this store will provide students easy access to reasonably priced products they need and cannot easily get from local businesses. Another service that the Student Senate is hoping to provide is monthly senator-facilitated meetings where the student body will be able to express its concerns and ideas to the senate in a less structured setting than the open forums at traditional Senate meetings. It is our hope that these student-run meetings will contribute to a sense of community and give the senate a better idea of what the student body wants and needs.

We hope not only to improve services for students, but to work with the administration to create and improve policies for both the residential and academic experience. A project that the Student Senate is working on is compiling an accurate list of Alumni and their contact information. This list could be used to help facilitate internships, fundraising, and future alumni events. While compiling this list, we hope to improve alumni relations, our sense of community, and gain a better understanding of the history of the school from the perspective of the students.

On a larger scale, the Student Senate is working with the administration to meet the school's long-term goals. Our school is currently undergoing the accreditation process and the Student Senate has been very involved. Each senate member is part of one of the school's Self Study committees and is able to express his or her ideas and solutions for meeting the accreditation standards. The student government representatives and the technology committee have discussed equipping each classroom with mounted digital projectors, and either smartboards, mimios or their equivalents for classroom instruction. In all the committees, Senators work closely with the faculty committee head and are gaining experience in problem solving and cooperation while working to benefit the school.

Nationally, the Senate has joined the Association of Consortium Student Governments. The ACSG works to promote Science and Mathematics at a national level through the collaboration of the Schools of Science and Mathematics in Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Missouri, and here, in Maine. The ACSG strives to enhance communication between the residential high schools of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools in Mathematics, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) in the states previously listed for the betterment of student governments. We are excited about our participation in this association and hope it will benefit our school and student government in new ways. The Senate will be sharing ideas and experiences with the other schools in the association as well as getting feedback from the other student governments. Once a year, the ACSG meets at one of the schools in the consortium. Last year this meeting was held at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham. This year, a group of students from the Senate will, one again, be participating in this conference.

With all these goals and current projects, the Senate is busy and productive. We continually work toward the improvement of the MSSM in order to provide a quality education and residential experience. We are sure that this year's dedication to the enrichment of the school will ultimately be a success for the entire student body.

Ryan Keating, Student Senate President