By Caitlyn Freeman

On Thursday, June 7th The Pulse sat down with Arundel Student Government Association (SGA) Student President-Elect, Hannah Maher and discussed her goals for her upcoming presidency and some of the factors that drove her to run for 2018-19 class president. The transcribed interview is below:

The Pulse: What made you want to run for office?

Hannah Maher: “Well, I ran for office because this year I was secretary and so I already had experience being an SGA officer. And I knew that my senior year would be a good year to run for President because I would be less busy and I would be able to put more time into SGA. And I really wanted to like end my Arundel career doing something good for the school. And being able to participate in all our spirit events and games.”

TP: What was your reaction when you found out that you won?

HM: “Well, I was really excited…I…No one ran against me, so I guess I wasn’t too surprised. But I was excited because it felt more real that I would be SGA president next year. And I was excited mostly.”

TP: What initiatives are you planning for next year?

HM: “Well, in SGA […] We really have to work hard. Like spirit week and homecoming week. So, that’s my main focus right now. We already have our dates for spirit week planned out and our homecoming theme. And after that, I wanna get more participation for our blood drives and our other fundraising events, because they could really bring our school together and it could be more fun, spirited days. But, right now a lot of things go unrecognized and a lot we have like low participation for some of our activities. And things like that. So, yeah I wanna get people more excited about blood drive and even if people don’t wanna donate blood, I want other ways people can participate.”

TP: What do you foresee your biggest challenge to be?

HM: “[…] Right now it’s probably going to be bringing more members because we have our officers next year. But, since homecoming is so early next year, it’s October 5th, well the game is October 5th, and the dance is October 6th, we really have to get new members and people who wanna help out with spirit week and homecoming set up, because there’s a lot more like that goes into it than [… ] People realize […] it’s just mostly […] just SGA that runs homecoming. And so, we need people to help set up our decorations, and right now it seems like we definitely need more members to help with that. So […] probably another challenge is […] going to be like getting everyone to cooperate and agree on things […] I’ve never really been like the president of anything so […] I’m gonna have to like practice getting everyone to work together, so that we can get everything done more efficiently, Because, obviously some people participate more than others. So, I really wanna bring everyone together to participate for everything.”

TP: How do you plan to bring out and/or highlight ‘P.R.I.D.E’ in your peers?

HM: “[…] Well, I think next year, like obviously our Senior year, our class will probably showing a lot of ‘P.R.I.D.E.’ But, we should all focus on our academics too. But, I think it’s just going to be talking to people and. I don’t know [… ] SGA’s a lot about spirit. It’s not all about academics, obviously, because we plan spirit week and things that are outside of academics. But, I want people to have a fun time with spirit week. But, I also think that like we as a student body need to prioritize our academics. So, it’s just gonna be like hanging out with people and hopefully being a good influences on those around me; to be focused on academics. And, bringing out the motivation in people, because obviously, that will go away next year for our seniors. But, for the whole student body, I think everyone should be focused on academics, but also having fun. Which hopefully will be better since [… ] homecoming’s in the beginning of the year. So [… ] we won’t be too busy with school work then. So, hopefully everyone will be able to be well rounded and have fun and do school work.”

TP: What does being student-president-elect mean to you?

HM: “[…] I think the first word that comes is. I know I said ‘spirit’ so many times, but it’s spirit, and it’s enthusiasm for Arundel. I mean being SGA president, I feel that I represent what Arundel is all about, which is like. We have a great spirited atmosphere, and I feel like I represent like passion, and I like working with other people. So, for me, it means like being able to work with other people and bring out motivation for whatever [… ] a person’s passion is and being able to motivate others. As a student body, we are one school, and I think it’s all about bringing people together.”

Maher is one of five students elected as an SGA officer for the 2018-19 SGA:

Vice President: Taha Jazza

Secretary: Maya Odom

Treasurer: Danielle Wasshausen

Historian: Meghan Malone