The Jupiter High Student Government Association (SGA) recently competed at the Florida Association of Student Councils (FASC) state competition. They placed for the first time in 4 years, taking home three 2nd place trophies and one 1st place trophy.

The competition was hosted by East River High School in Orlando, and took place on Friday, Feb. 21, through Sunday, Feb. 23. This is an annual conference where students from different districts across Florida are able to learn about leadership through guest speakers and workshops while their service projects are judged.

The FASC consists of six different districts with each county across Florida assigned to a specific district. The JHS SGA is a member of district 5 of the FASC, which consists of Palm Beach, Indian River, Okeechobee, St.Lucie, Martin and Glades Counties. 

“In preparation for the state competition we work on something called a POY book, or project of the year book, all year long,” Madison Johnson, school spirit chair of SGA, said. “It’s in a little binder that has the description of the project, the evaluation of the project, as well as photos and examples of the project. Every book competes in a different category depending on what committee or officer it came from.”

A maximum of five books are allowed to be submitted at the district competition in February. Once the books are judged and graded, they are returned, reviewed and revised before being submitted to the state competition. For the state leadership conference, student governments are permitted to submit as many entries, in as many categories, as they’d like to compete in. 

Mia Barrows, junior, is the second vice president of SGA and a three year member of the program. Barrows competed in the Health and Safety category, placing 1st, with a perfect score  from all of the judges. 

“Our books go to be judged by three or four judges that will go through and evaluate your book,“ Barrows said. “A lot of the rubric is subjective, there are times when you get points knocked off if you didn’t describe your point well enough for another school to implement it.”

Founded in 1977, FASC is sponsored by The Florida Association of School Adminisistrators (FASA) with the purpose of supporting student leaders. The leadership conference gives student governments from all over the state the opportunity to connect and bond with their peers in the program.

“It really allows you to network with other schools from around the state and learn about SGA’s core values,” Johnson said. “It allows our student government to become closer and ties our relationship closer together when you spend time together in that environment.”

The JHS SGA is most known for organizing and planning events such as homecoming, prom, spirit weeks and pep rallies. However there are various components to the program. 

“I think it’s really important to raise awareness of the competitions that SGA is going to,” Johnson said. “There is a lot of detail that is required for these things, and the events that we put on like pep rallies. It’s important for people to see the other perspective of it, not just the fun stuff.”