fandomhigh | OPEN MIC STUDENT COUNCIL QUORUM

((OOC: let the games begin. GO! (edit: Bingo Cards are done! Yay! Now go play.)) (second edit: This will be open for discussion until 10pm US CST, Friday, 10/7. If you want to chime in, do it before then. After that time, comments will be locked.)

"Hello and welcome to the Open Mic Student Council Quorum. This is going to be a cross between a Crossfire event, a debate, and a party. We want you to get to know your Student Council candidates - all of them - better. A lot better. To that purpose, we've invited all of them here tonight. However, as this was not a mandatory event, we don't have a roster yet of who will show up. Feel free to write your questions in, we'll make sure they all get them whether they show tonight or not.

Here's how tonight is going to work:

1) Each Student Council Candidate will be asked 5 questions from the quorum directors (that's us), and they will have 1 minute to answer the question to the best of their ability. We'll be keeping score and awarding points for how accurately each question is answered, as well as style and delivery. At the end of the night, the representative with the most points will win a prize.

2) When the 5 questions have been answered, the floor will be opened to the audience for the Crossfire section - to ask the Candidates anything they want. HOWEVER, the questions must be on topic. Questions phrased with vulgar or offensive language, or questions about personal lifestyle choices or habits will be striken - and the asker will be asked to leave. So phrase your questions carefully. We're here to learn things and have fun.

3) The Candidates may ask each other questions in the Crossfire section. Feel free to go head to head over your issues. Well, verbally, anyway.

4) I mentioned fun, and to that effect, we have Buzzword Bingo going. Each of you was handed a set of Buzzword Bingo Cards and a pencil as you entered. Here's how it works: Each card has the name of a Candidate on it, and many, many buzzwords pulled directly from the debate last night. When you note any Candidate using a buzzword in any of their answers, tick it off on their Bingo Card. The first player to declare a Bingo wins a doorprize. The first player to get Bingos on more than five cards gets the grand prize.

The Prizes:
Single Card Bingo: First 12 people will each win 1lb boxes of chocolates from Wonka's Sweet Shop
Two Card Bingo: First person to get one wins a $15 gift certificate to Deb's Diner and Retro Store
Three Card Bingo: First person to get one wins a $30 gift certificate to Deb's Diner and Retro Store
Four Card Bingo: First person to get one wins a $50 gift certificate to The Emporium
Grand Prize: a $100 gift certificate to Red's Tattoos

((OOC NOTE: For the sake of our sanity, here's how it's going to run.

The "(Candidate name) Questions" threads will be locked to only the Candidates - please, no ooc comments or non-Candidate posting in them.

The "(Candidate name) Crossfire" section will be open to any IC comments. Please direct your questions to the Candidates in their threads.

Please keep all OOC comments in the "OOC" thread" - we ask because we'll be cutting and pasting from the other threads as the night goes on.

This post will remain the same - a secondary post will be linked for people who want to catch up without scanning a billion comments.

If you have questions for the moderator - and for right now, that's me - there will be a seperate post in my non-comm journal and you can ask them there. I am turning email notification for this thread off.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

4. It's now four weeks past the election. You've been elected to your position and most of the student body has gone back to their everyday lives of ignoring student government. How will you implement your plans in a way that will make the rest of the student body care about what the student council does?

This is a difficult question when it comes to Academic Affairs as most of the duties are behind the scenes and deal with things like proposed changes to school club funding and how to best integrate transfer students into the general population. I would have to say that making the office and its function more visible would be a good first step, with voice mail and e-mail and possibly a link to various projects on the school web page.

As secretary, I think that that's part of the job- the students can't care unless they're informed. I think that using all of the different forms of media available on campus to inform students of what the student council is doing, and why it's important to them- they could be raising funds for something that benefits students, which everyone would want to support, or changes in academic policies, which everyone should know about. So, in short, telling people what's going on will inevitably create interest.

"The only way to keep the attention of the student body is to effect changes, both large and small, that will keep the council in their thoughts. That is why part of my campaign is the lowering of vending machine prices. It may seem like a trifling thing, but the students will be thankful, and once I have their attention over that, I can move on to larger issues, such as the peer counseling and the tunneling club."

"The point of being a student relations officer is to act as a liason between the government and the students. So, I'll be keeping everyone updated on what's happening in the government - and I've already secured permission from Barbossa to use the radio. I'll also instigate the afforementioned activities that involve the student body at large - Friday and Saturday night outings and parties, a dating service, and field trips."

The best way to get the student's attention is to advertise. Let the students know through e-mail, posters, radio the things that we are doing for them. I think one of the reasons that the student government gets ignored after time is because the students don't even know what the student council is doing. It's not that they don't care it's that they might think that we don't care.

"As I have mentioned before, I am planning on holding weekly meetings for students to talk about various concerns they may have and discuss what they are with other students. In addition, I am planning on holding weekly self defense classes. I hope that answers your question."

Student attention can be obtained through effective use of the radio and internet.

Like I said last night, I plan on being available on regular basis so that students can contact me. Office hours, if you will. And I'll be sure to keep the students updated on what's going on in the government, though I have not decided on what the best medium for those updates would be. The radio and the student paper are both viable options, I think.

"The ideas I have for the security officer is to implement a voluntary student service that will:

Provide escort service to any place in Fandomtownies
Coordinate security issues between Fandomhigh Security and FTPD
Assist Rover in security measures for school.
Provide a centralized dispatch service for students to call, in the event of an emergency and implement an early warning system to alert students of any particular dangers, with it be a Zombie horde, something strange the Swedish Chef cooked up, or *shudders* mimes."

Hey, we'll do our part to publicize what the council is doing, but we can't force the students to care. They have to take some responsibility for paying attention, too.

"I can't make anyone else care. I can invite them to care by providing them with information in a timely and interesting fashion. I can make sure that if they have concerns they are being addressed. I can make sure my door is always open. I can make sure to make the Liaison's role open and apparent and invite students to interact with me. If I'm elected? That's what I'll do."

"Well, I am sure people will never ignore the money part. I expect I will be walking down the halls and students will say 'Hey Anya, how's our money?' and I'll answer them. By keeping the students informed of their money and the returns on their money, they will care about what we are doing," she rattles off in one breath.

For the student body to care about what the student council is doing, then they have to be working on something that the student body will care about. No matter how many dull and unattractive administrative tasks the council is working on, there needs to be at least one which will make the students sit up and take notice.

Getting the students involved is also a good thing. The council is comprised of students, and will have been voted in by the students. Access to the council is necessary, as to not cut them off from the rest of the student body.

They don't need to see everything that goes on behind the scenes; after all, there are two things people don't want to see made - sausages and laws. But communication is fundamental, and in this day and age, there is no excuse for a lack of it.

One must, of course, be aware that in many places, students are mere puppets for the actual administrators. Now, as Treasurer, I would, obviously, be in charge of the financial affairs of the school. If I were to use the money wisely in ways that would benefit clubs, teachers who need supplies for field trips, and create interesting activities for students, then the student body would take notice.

"I would make sure that we started working on making the sudents aware of our presence and any of the activities we are planning. As others have said, they won't care if apathy sets in and they're not aware that we're doing anything. I would want to focus on making sure that the sudents were awaree that we were there and that we were working to fulfil our obligations to them.

OPEN MIC STUDENT COUNCIL QUORUM

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