April Executive Board Meeting Recap

On April 7th, students arrived at the Richard Montgomery cafeteria, or logged into Zoom, for the second hybrid MCR meeting of the year. The meeting was called to order at 6:10 pm.

Following the approval of the meeting agenda and minutes, Azimullah Rifai gave the monthly MCJC update, sharing the date of the MCJC general assembly, scheduled for May 4th. Secondly, Rifai shared that MCJC had their transparency audit that will be revisited on May 6th. The update concluded with the announcement that MCJC officer filings have opened.

Check out the MCJC website here: https://www.mcjcsga.org/

Check out the MCJC Instagram: @mcjc.sga

Contacts: azimullahrifai@gmail.com or Shayaan_S_Wadkar@mcpsmd.org

Treasurer, Maahe Kunvar then delivered the Finance Report, reporting that Quarter 3 grant apps close on May 5th. An important announcement for seniors: graduation stoles may be purchased.

The next activity came Board Game Speed Dating, a way for students in-person to get to know each other, while those online participated in virtual icebreaker activities. Games consisted of Uno, Dos, jigsaw puzzles, Bingo, and Montgomery County-opoly, that Himanshu Geriya was crowned champion of.

Vice President Ashely Morales then proposed an MCR constitutional amendment to Article 4, Section 2: “Conducting check-ins with the Executive Board to provide support and ensure member safety and comfort within the Executive Board.” The resolution sponsored by Morales, in addition to Secretary Queen Balina and Treasurer Maahe Kunvar was passed.

Following the successful resolution came the MCR 2022-2023 school year candidate speeches. Each candidate was given a maximum of two minutes. Beginning with candidates for secretary, speeches were delivered by Pratiksha Das, a junior at Wheaton HS, Folashade Epebinu, a sophomore at Seneca Valley HS, and Allison Sweeney, a sophomore at Poolesville HS. Second, came the treasurer candidates, Anusha Krishnan, a sophomore at Poolesville HS, and Fasila Tefera, a junior at Wheaton. Vice president candidates, Gretchen Glimore, a sophomore at Wootton HS, and Michelle Wong, a junior at Richard Montgomery HS spoke before handing the microphone to the incumbent, Shairee Arora, a junior at Richard Montgomery HS, for the presidential candidate speech.

MCPS Student member of the Board of Education, Ms. Hana O’Looney then proceeded to give her monthly update. She described her resolution on improving MCPSs free meals and how she would work to implement it, with a recommendation to the Board of Education about their operating budget. She shared preliminary plans for virtual course options, and announced that a student survey was coming. Ms. O’Looney shared news of Charles Woodward HS, a new school being built into the Walter Johnson cluster. It will be the first MCPS high school with a multistory parking lot, and all gender neutral bathrooms! It will also contain two outdoor classrooms and green roofs.

Hana’s Website: https://www.hanathesmob.com/

Hana’s Instagram: @hanaolooney

Hana’s Email: Hana_O’Looney@mcpsmd.org

The executive board then went into department breakout rooms. The Chief of Staff department celebrated their resolution being passed, the SCC department passed an amendment stating that admins are selected by the SCC rather than the MCR president, and the School Communications department went over SGA president meetings from last month, celebrated their successful climate summit, and began planning another summit for the month of May.

Angelina Xu, the vice president elect of MASC shared information about a MASC convention that can be found here: https://mdstudentcouncils.org/index.php/convention/. Applications for the statewide SGA executive board are open, for students that are interested.

Email: angelina.xu.9282@gmail.com

More info about MASC: https://mdstudentcouncils.org/

Instagram: @md.stuco

Some upcoming events were shared: The PeaceJam Youth Conference will be hosted in-person at Northwood from April 22nd-24th. Registration is due April 15th.

The MCR general assembly to elect officers will be hosted in-person at Watkin’s Mill on April 27th. Executive members receive an automatic vote in the elections.

MASC Convention Part 2 will be held in person on April 30th. Registration to be a presenter at the event is due April 15th.

MCR’s final executive board meeting for the 2021-2022 school year will be held in-person at Carver Education Center.

Moco EmpowHer applications are due on May 15th.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:56pm, and students left excited for upcoming elections, assemblies, and conventions. “MCR rocks.” - Gretchen Gilmore 2022

Written by Allison Khani

Published by PR Department