Student-body presidents dealing with heavy issues this year

Lisa Sciortino

Thursday, Sept. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

They're policy makers, goodwill ambassadors and cheerleaders all rolled into one.

Student body presidents rule -- literally. And it's not as easy as it looks.

This high-ranking position usually requires that presidents (with the help of student council members) plan assemblies, organize student elections, represent their fellow students at events, among other stuff.

Each president also has a laundry list of activities they're planning and issues they hope to tackle this school year.

For Norma Mayer, Clark High School's prez, getting students pumped up about school is her top priority.

"People don't like to get involved," she says. "They don't like to attend assemblies, nobody's attending the games. Nobody's wearing black and gold (the school colors) ... and I think that's something we definitely have to work on."

One potential glitch in the senior's peppy plans may appear just before the school's homecoming football game this fall.

Clark has a long-standing tradition of going all out in decorating the school -- walls, ceilings, lockers -- with festive homecoming themes. But fire regulations have nixed this year's plans.

"It's totally upsetting us," she says. So she and council members are already hard at work planning pep rallies and "teacher vs. student" activities to make up for the loss.

Still, Norma fears it won't be the same. Walking down Clark's halls and "being enveloped in this theme," she says, "it's a feeling that you can't replace."

Durango High's problem is just the opposite.

"One of them main things we're trying to do is establish traditions," says student body President Angela Namba.

Though the school opened three years ago, creating customs has been tough. "We try to do things the same way each year and get people excited about it," she says.

Making a return this year will be the homecoming tailgate parties and "Senior Week," five days dedicated to senior silliness.

Angela, 17, says she'd also like to focus more attention on freshmen by making it easier for them to join school clubs. Hence the upcoming "Club Day," where the organizations will take to the school courtyard and invite students to sign up.

"If they don't start out (getting involved) their freshman year," Angela contends, "they might not take the time the rest of their three years here to find out what it's all about."

A double vision

So, how do you oversee a campus that's growing right along with its student body? That's something Janene Stelts, Silverado's student president, is trying to figure out.

The school, which is in the southeast part of the valley, recently underwent an expansion and opened an additional wing of classrooms. With that, enrollment this year is expected to top out at around 2,400 students.

"It's huge," says Janene, 17. "It must be overwhelming for a lot of people.

"One of my goals is to get to know all of the new kids. I think high school is an opportunity to meet people."

Especially since the "leaders of tomorrow" are roaming the halls, she says. "I want to find those people in my school ... and get ideas from them and learn from them. A lot of them are more quiet and sit in the back of the room, but they have a lot to offer."

She'll have some help in her search: Janene's identical twin sister, Janae, is the student body vice president.

Besides sharing six classes, the pair also give speeches together. "It's really fun because we look exactly alike. We say the twins rule the school," Janene says.

Dr. Bonanza, Mr. High

At Bonanza High, there's a split personality this year: It's Bonanza High School part of the day, Palo Verde the rest.

Sharing classrooms with a school whose campus is under construction (set to open later this year) has put Bonanza students on edge, says President Melissa Alesi.

"A lot of the students really don't like the Palo Verde situation," she says, "because sometimes it seems as though they get preferential treatment."

Student parking has been a problem. "Normally we have this whole parking lot with about 400 spaces for the students, ... but now the parking has been cut in half. It's going to be interesting working through these problems this year."

Long Valley road

Nicole Antonio wishes it was that easy. This year, Valley High's student body president has made it her mission to clean up the school's reputation.

It's been scarred in recent years, most notably by a melee that broke out during a rap concert there two years ago.

"We were grief-stricken because everyone labeled Valley as a worthless, inner-city school. People just focused on the bad things about Valley. It didn't do much for our reputation," she says.

One way to right the wrongs is through what Nicole calls a "value restoration program."

Each month, an area of the school will be targeted for improvements. That includes everything from cleaning out the booths in the football stadium to having a new copy of the fight song painted in the school gym.

It's a step in the right direction, Nicole says. "We have a lot of school spirit, and that's what Valley is known for."