Last week, four Student Government Association (SGA) members and five Student Advisory Council (SAC) members were elected to represent Jefferson in the coming school year.

The SGA plans and budgets for activities such as homecoming and J-Day. Newly elected treasurer sophomore Mia Yang shares her thoughts on the future of SGA.

How are you planning to improve SGA?

In general, one thing that I want to do is increase communication between the administration and the student body. I know that sometimes the student body feels like they’re being left in the dark… Of course, the other SGA officers and I are also focusing on mental health.

What role will the student body play?

We were talking with the other officers, and we want to restructure the TJ SGA website. Also [we considered] changing town hall meetings or Dining with Docs to encompass more of the actual student body instead of just SGA. Even if we do facebook posts once in a while… we want to get everyone actually involved. Specifically, giving out polls or surveys to pinpoint what students actually care about and what they think about issues.

Final thoughts?

Last year I was 2020 class treasurer…and I wanted to keep getting involved with the school community. I’m looking forward to making this school year even better than the ones before.

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SAC is separate from SGA, and members represent our school during county-wide meetings with other schools from around the county and the Fairfax County School Board.  SAC veteran junior Ish Sethi shares his thoughts on the program.

Why is SAC important?

I was on SAC last year. It was a great growing experience. From TJ, you aren’t exposed to a lot of different viewpoints, because we’re a very close-knit community. When I’m on SAC I work with people from around the county, so it’s weird to see different perspectives and learn from other people.  

What have you learned through SAC?

Throughout the county, there’s a big problem of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes. Children with disabilities aren’t getting the funding they need in their departments. In TJ, we don’t have departments like that, so it’s great to see what’s going on in the county.

What is the SAC doing to improve student life?

Last week, we presented to the school board a new budget, a new mental health program for teachers and students, and new plans for graduation.