When a student walks around the hall of OHS they may hear other students mumbling various stereotypes about STUGO under their breath.

Stugo’s a popularity contest. All they do is paint posters.

After spending some time with STUGO, a student’s eyes may be opened to all of the work that they actually do. 

As it turns out, STUGO members spend more time on campus than they do at their actual homes and do a lot of work around campus that goes unnoticed. 

Here’s a look into what STUGO actually does and what their lives are like.

Student government is more than just a class for those who are in it. It is a time-consuming commitment.

“It’s an easy class, but once you’re in STUGO, you literally give your life to it,” said Lauren Contreras, senior.

Contreras said that STUGO members get to school at 5 am on assembly days and are rushing around usually running on only two hours of sleep.

“Once it comes down to the wire, with planning things, you literally live at the school,” Contreras said.

“We spend so much time in that room working and the amount of time we spend outside of school is unbelievable,” said Del Kelly, junior.

Some might say that STUGO is more of a commitment than being part of a team.

“I played volleyball and it was nothing like this kind of dedication,” said Carli Engers, senior.

Engers said that her passion for student government is what makes her want to give more and stay later.

STUGO members put in many hours outside of school.

Engers said that she once stayed for four hours after school to count the homecoming ballots because they had to be done for the next day. Engers volunteers to stay after hours because she could not imagine disappointing the student body.

According to Noah Barinque, junior, the class usually starts off with a few words from Jason Jones, the adviser, and Marco Burgarello, the President. Burgarello explains what the groups will be working on.

The student government is divided into classes (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors) and committees like Glow Committee, Dance Committee, and Game Advisory. They switch committees three times a year.

A common misconception is that STUGO doesn’t do a lot of work during class. Each committee actually has a pile of work that they have to get done every day.

“Right now I’m in Glow [committee] and each day I’m creating a list of jobs that need to be done, I’m creating a list of jobs that need to be done by other people in STUGO the day of [the event], I have to create an instruction video, I’m calling the different Glow companies, getting decorations, and making sure we’re on the same page with our DJ. It’s just an endless list,” Kelly said.

Student government actually spends quite a bit of time filling out paperwork. They fill out forms to get different ideas approved and committee reports detailing what they have gotten done and who they have contacted.

Planning Prom is a responsibility that falls upon the juniors.

Kelly said that they began looking at venues as early as their freshman year of high school. They pick a venue their sophomore year.

“By the beginning of junior year we have our theme picked out and then we just go from there. We solidify decorations, florists, a DJ, a venue, caterers, the gift, tickets, invitations and posters. There’s just a lot that goes into it. We have all year to plan, but it’s still a huge undertaking,” said Cierra St Clair, junior.

St Clair said that it has actually been a joy to plan Prom because the junior class works really well together. There are currently 11 juniors in STUGO.

It’s just a matter of creatively working on time and tying it all together,” said Kelly.

Student government members have learned many life skills from all of the work that they have put into the class.

Barinque said that he has learned a lot about leadership and that you can be yourself and not care about what other people think.

“Freshman year I couldn’t even pick up a phone and call a corporate company,” Kelly said.

Kelly said that now she feels comfortable talking to and calling adults.

STUGO is famous for making the signs and posters that they put up to advertise different events that are going on around campus.

According to Engers, there are hours that go into making the various signs. She said that sometimes a STUGO member will end up taking home a sign and a bunch of kids will go over to that person’s house to work on it.

Evan Shawcross, senior, cuts out the big letters that get put out in the middle of campus during spirit week.

Engers said that sometimes complications arise when putting the letters up. When the STUGO members go to put them in the grass the sprinklers can go off and cause the signs to get warped, so people have to keep coming in early to re-stake the letters.

According to Contreras, student government even uses a special kind of tape to keep signs up around campus.

When students see STUGO making posters out in the hall, they tend to make assumptions about what the student government class is all about.

“Student government sometimes gets branded as being a popular entity and only the “cool kids” serve in that. The one thing I’d like [the student body] to resonate with is the only reason why [STUGO members] seem to be popular is because they are the only ones that are visible,” said Jason Jones, STUGO adviser.

Jones said that by visible, he means that STUGO members are the only ones who are seen doing things around campus.

STUGO members try to listen to student’s wishes, but the student body does not always speak up about what it wants.

“The student body has more buy-in than they think, it’s just that we don’t hear from them that often, and when you don’t talk we assume that everything’s fine,” Jones said.

“We try to do so many things. We hear what kids want and we try really hard to implement that and create new things,” Engers said.

For example, STUGO tried to get a Mountain Ridge vs. O’Connor dodge ball tournament going but when they approached Ridge, they said no.

“We go at bat for the student body,” Engers said.

There are many ways that STUGO tries to connect with the student body.

This year they created a position just for public relations that Taylor Field, junior, holds.

The student government also has tried to get students rallied up for different sports with the new committee, Game Advisory.

According to Noah Barinque, junior, the Game Advisory committee tries to make the school rowdy for more than just football season. They put out 3rd hour announcements, make posters, and network on social media to try and get people to go to games.

“It’s my major mission this year to bridge those lines between student government and the student body and to make those more of a unison. My biggest charge is to get the student body to have a voice,” Jones said.

At the end of the day, STUGO’s number one mission is to serve the student body.

“We really enjoy what we do and everything we do is actually for the students of the student body. We really care about [the students] and enhancing their high school experience,” St Clair said.