On Tuesday, Feb. 27, students ranging from all grades came together in the cafeteria during their third period classes to discuss school concerns and safety in the first student senate.

Prior to Tuesday, principal Cesar Morales was challenged by fellow passionate administrators to pitch, launch, and test an idea within seven school days that they had to better their students’ learning experiences. When Morales received the assignment, the student senate was the first thing that came to mind.

“This is a dream I’ve had for some time,” Morales said.

The first step Morales took in achieving his dream was asking his staff to nominate students who are diverse in the groups that they represent, in addition to the academic standings they have. Five students from each grade level were elected to serve in the senate.

After they were asked to be in the senate, the students were then asked to attend their first meeting. Little did the students know that the meeting would be almost entirely student-based.

“It wasn’t teacher run, it was all what the students thought,” said student senate member, junior Alyssa Sheldone.

The student-centric discussions were exactly what Morales wanted. He chose teacher Ron Cordell, campus supervisor Pamela Doze, administrative assistant Debra Shinto and vice principal Jesse Schuveiller prior to the meeting and asked them to, “do everything you can to not talk too much.”

During the meeting, the students grouped into their own grade level to debate several topics, including school pride, concerns and safety. Some groups, however, found it hard to merely discuss what they were proud of without talking about how to make it better.

“We are happy about where we ―Sage Creek ― are, but we talked about how we could make it better,” senior Chloe Easterbrook said during the meeting.

After discussing amongst peers in their grade level, the students then discussed the same topics with students from different grade levels.

Once all of the discussions were over, the entire senate holistically came together to consider how they could put their words into action. Topics that were heavily debated included school campus accessibility, emergency situation drills and active shooter responses.

“It was definitely an open setting where you could share any idea and you wouldn’t be laughed at. Every idea was important,” freshman Miriam Melkonian said.  

As the meeting came to a close, however, many students found themselves itching for more time.

“I thought it was rushed. I don’t feel like we were given enough time to discuss everything, but that makes sense since this is our first meeting,” senior Brad Nelson commented.

Despite the lack of time, however, Nelson also noted that the meeting was a  “very good test for what the student senate will become, but there is definitely potential.” From now on, the senate plans to meet monthly.

Morales shared his hopes with the senate that its members would grow close in their working relationships over the course of their terms for the rest of the academic school year.

“After the first time you hang out with anyone, that bond just grows and it leads to acceleration and action,” he said.

While members of the senate see room for growth in the meeting themselves, they still believe this body will help push Sage Creek to be a better place.

“Sage Creek will definitely become a better school because of the senate because it truly enables a student voice to be heard,” Melkonian concluded.