From Winterfest to Stress-Less Week, the Student Government Association (SGA) has been busy this year planning events aimed at uplifting student life and working on new developments within SGA. Recently, student body president Kasim Khapra ‘25 and freshman class representative Anika Agrawal ‘28 answered some questions about SGA’s accomplishments, future plans, and new developments.
Kasim remarked that his favorite accomplishment so far was the SGA constitution, which he mentioned “formalizes how we submit proposals to admin to make sure that we’re submitting proposals that include all stakeholders in discussions.” Equality and balance in SGA meetings are regular and essential; Kasim stated, “I think the nice thing about SGA is, yeah, there’s upperclassmen and there’s underclassmen, and underclassmen bringing fresh thinking, while upperclassmen sometimes have seen more proposals go through and see what works and what doesn’t. So I think it’s a great blend.” Anika talked about the experience of freshman voices in meetings: “When we have proposals, before we take them to Mr. Davis or any adult, we always vote as a committee, and everybody has a say.”
SGA also has plenty of fun ideas planned for the rest of the year. Despite the supposed secrecy of their meetings, Kasim and Anika happily shared many new plans that students should get excited for. Anika explained SGA’s goal to get more soccer balls, soccer goals, and more outdoor equipment overall. Moreover, both interviewees talked about how they were excited for the now-in-full-swing Stress-Less Week, which has become a Potomac Upper School tradition. Kasim also commented: “Our juniors are working on a proposal to get a 3:15 bus before there’s a major traffic rush to Trinity, so that juniors can get out of school a little bit more quickly and get to their car so they can drive home.”
While all of these accomplishments are impressive, SGA recognizes that there have been some challenges along the way. However, Kasim and Anika explained how SGA has been able to overcome them. Kasim described how sometimes, students and teachers may have differing opinions, which can be challenging. However, he mentioned that a new policy SGA adopted has helped immensely when he said, “We’ve adopted that methodology when you go and meet with a teacher before you send [a proposal] to admin, so they can come up with something that works better for everybody and can yield more success for for students and teachers.” Anika also noted that the admin is typically busy and that booking meetings is quite difficult. However, she went on to say, “We’ve been able to overcome them, mostly just with planning extensively throughout the year, how we want to integrate our proposals into the calendar and into student life overall.”
Potomac students, SGA wants you to look forward to the rest of the year. When asked if there was anything SGA had not accomplished that they wished they had, both Kasim and Anika responded, “The school year is not over yet.” Whether students are privy to SGA’s plans or not, they should all look forward to SGA’s exciting goals for the rest of the year and the hard work they’ve put in thus far.
