The halls of La Plata High School filled as the bell rang for the next period. Students dressed in their college shirt of choice walked the halls as they switched classes to continue the day of learning.
College Shirt Day is one of the many spirit days and for students at the school can participate. Put on by the student government association (SGA), it is an initiative to promote student involvement and comradery.
La Plata’s SGA recently received the 2024-2025 Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC) Felix Simon High School Award for leadership and service. The award honors outstanding student councils that develop young leaders that not only benefit the school, but the community as well.
According to MASC, the award is given to the student council that creates a safe space for students to voice concerns and ideas, promote good citizenship and democratic values, foster social development through participation in council activities, and encourage leadership through service.
Hailing from Charles County and Pennsylvania, SGA sponsors, Julie Andrews and Brooke Shnipes, respectively, have supported the association at La Plata since the 2021-2022 school year. “I love teaching and interacting with the students and getting to know new students every single year,” Andrews said. Before becoming SGA sponsors, the duo coached the varsity cheer team at the school after arriving as first-year teachers in 2014.
There was a vacancy for the SGA sponsor position and Shnipes and Andrews took the opportunity and ran with it. Andrews, a Charles County native attended Salisbury University and returned to the county to teach science. After completing her master’s degree in secondary education Pennsylvania, Shnipes journeyed to Maryland to teach English.
The SGA-sponsored Battle of the Classes, which is a year-long event, gives students at the school the opportunity to get involved and to stay connected to one another through team building, promoting pride for their class. “Students, if they aren’t even in SGA, can get involved and feel a part of it,” Shnipes said.
Student involvement in SGA continues to be a desired area of growth for the school after returning from the COVID-19 pandemic. The La Plata SGA officers does not let that stop them from promoting opportunities for student body participation. “You can’t force people to get involved, but you can provide opportunities for them to be,” SGA President Claire Bright said. Hailee Gandee, SGA secretary, chimed in with the Winterfest community event that hosted other clubs at the school for a collaborative experience. “The community buy-in is helping, parents see what they are doing and encourage their [children] to join SGA,” Andrews said. The members collaborate on a quarterly newsletter to staff and students to keep everyone updated on what SGA is doing.
SGA has been a rewarding experience for those involved as some have been in the association for all four years of high school. “Being in SGA is fun,” Haliee Boyd, SGA vice president, said. “Being involved with the community service opportunities, creating strong friendships and building good relationships with my teachers and sponsors, made my high school experience.”
Students in the association continue to find ways to improve community and school involvement including taking opportunities to teach lessons in Local, State, and National (LSN) Government classes at the school to promote student advocacy and guide learning about government affairs and elections.
“Mrs. Andrews and I were both ecstatic and very proud to achieve this award, especially given that La Plata was the only high school in the state to receive it this year,” Shnipes said. “It was very validating to see all of our SGA’s hard work pay off.”
Bright leads the student body at La Plata as president while Boyd, senior, is the vice president. Elizabeth Tober, junior, is the school’s student liaison to the Board of Education of Charles County and will assume the role as SGA president next school year. Gandee, senior, is the secretary.
To learn more visit https://mdstudentcouncils.org/index.php/applications/masc-awards/.
