I know exactly where I’ll be in two years.
I will have just won the lottery, a box of Lucky Charms with only the marshmallows will be sitting on my desk and Glenbrook North’s seniors will have voted me “Most Outgoing” for the Class of 2017.
As much as I envision this happening, a lot can change in two years.
No matter how many lottery tickets I buy or strongly-worded letters I send to General Mills or times I force myself to engage in groups of people larger than three, the future is unpredictable. That’s what makes it the future.
In the spring of 2014, a new policy was instated by GBN’s administration, mandating that anyone who wishes to be a candidate for Student Association Executive Board needs two years of experience being on a class board in order to run.
In other words, you need to have the rest of your high school career mapped out by the end of your freshman year.
As a teenager, I have first-hand knowledge of how we tend to act. We’re sleep-deprived. We’re hungry at weird times. We’re capable of procrastination beyond even the wildest of imaginations. But most importantly, we’re unpredictable.
Two years leaves a massive window open for change. Being in high school widens that window even more since masses of different clubs, sports, electives and other activities are packed into a whopping two-story building, just waiting for students to test out.
Some may say two years of experience shows commitment to student government, but in actuality, a commitment to class board doesn’t necessarily demonstrate leadership. The leadership needed to be on SA Board can be developed through other activities, not just student government.
Sure this policy may filter out the few students who decide to run as a little ruse for their friends, but it also restricts opportunities for students who haven’t figured out every passion in their lives by the time they turn 14.
The administration should revoke this policy because it doesn’t take these realities into account.
Unless I win the lottery.
Then the administration can do whatever it wants.