SGA plans events for school year

Blair's Student Government Association (SGA) plans to implement a variety of changes during the upcoming school year, including expanding communication with Blazers by launching a new website and changing "Class Colors Day" to "School Colors Day" during Spirit Week.

The theme for the Friday of Spirit Week was changed to School Colors Day to prevent freshmen hazing, according to SGA President Alex Bae. Seniors and sophomores will wear red, while juniors and freshmen will wear white. In past years, each class wore a different color. Principal Darryl Williams negotiated this issue in a meeting with the SGA.

Although Bae recognized that the change will be controversial with the student body, he understood the reasoning behind the administration's decision. "We're representing our school more than our class," he said.

The SGA also hopes to improve communication and awareness within the Blair community this year. The planned website will broadcast information on upcoming SGA-sponsored events such as tomorrow's blood drive and next week's Spirit Week, according to Bae. The old website, which functioned more as a blog, will be modified to include polls and videos. The new website will also be connected to the Blair homepage to make it more accessible to students.

Bae hopes that the new version will be a viable resource for student communication with the SGA. "The only way you can get accurate and constructive feedback is through effective communication," he said. "I'm hoping that plenty of people see what a resource it could be and use it to check up on what's going on."

SGA will kick off its busy year with a blood drive on Sept. 11. 226 people signed up to donate blood, according to sophomore SGA member Justin Kaplan-Markley. This number exceeds the SGA's original goal by more than 100 people.

The Homecoming dance, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, will feature Las Vegas-themed decorations. The SGA also planned Spirit Week around this motif, assigning class themes based on distinctive Las Vegas hotels, which are reflected in the Thursday spirit theme.

Spirit Week will take place the week after next, culminating in a pep rally on Friday, Sept. 25 and Homecoming dance the next day. The themes are Pajama Day, Cartoon Character Day, Wacky Tacky Day, Class Theme Day and School Colors Day. For Class Theme Day, freshmen will represent "Circus Circus", sophomores will represent "Caesar's Palace," juniors will represent "Hard Rock Hotel" and seniors will be "Treasure Island."

SGA members also spoke of a tentative schedule for school events after homecoming. Plans for the rest of the year include an activity fair on Sept. 18, an outdoor movie on Oct. 2, the annual canned food drive in December and a school dance on Dec. 18 and another blood drive in the spring.

In addition to launching a new website, the SGA has made videos for InfoFlow on SGA-sponsored events like the freshmen elections and blood drive to improve communication. Videos will match a face with the broader organization of SGA, Bae said, so that "people can see who we are and they won't be afraid to come up and talk with us in person."

The SGA has also been utilizing Facebook to keep Blazers informed about events such as t-shirt sales, the blood drive and homecoming. Bae wants to make the SGA very accessible to the student body. "Everyone in the school deserves to have an opportunity to give their opinion to the administration and to the SGA," he said.

SGA sponsor Claudette Smith called this month "one of the busiest Septembers," due to the fact that the homecoming dance is earlier than usual. "Between all of those things we're overloaded," she said. "Everyone's working overtime."

Despite the time crunch, Bae expressed confidence in the SGA's ability to manage the event schedule. The SGA, comprised of around 30 members, is larger than in past years, a fact he believes will bolster the group's success. Bae also believes that the group's diversity will provide success throughout the year. "It's a really good representation of the school as a whole," Bae said.