By Lauren Williams

Eighth grade

Gulf Shores Middle School is starting the race for Student Government Associa-tion.

Only eighth-grade students can run for president. Seventh- and eighth- graders can run for vice president, treasurer, secretary or chaplin. There is also a class representative for each homeroom.

 Students who wanted to run for office had to have their parent's permission. Also they have to be a hard worker. The council reserves the right to fire anyone who doesn't take the job seriously.

A merit system will be in place. To be able to run, students can't have any write ups or suspensions, must maintain a B average, and must have consistently good attendance.

Also they must be able to stay after school, come to school early if necessary, and attend evening events, including some PTSO events if needed. Some activities will cause them to be out of class and they must make up work that is missed.

SGA is a student-run government. It was founded in 1963 by the University of Missouri- St. Louis. It has been through many constitutional changes and the most recent was in 2004.

The president is in charge. He/She makes the decisions. The vice president must coordinate all the committees while assisting the president.

The treasurer is responsible for funding the SGA events and programs and the chaplin's job is to directly encourage positive leadership traits in the governing body of the SGA and indirectly to promote right actions amongst peers. The secretary keeps a written account of each meeting and writes letters and other notices.

The class representatives are elected by each class to act and vote at student council meetings.

This year, Kristen House is  president and she said, “I'm running because it will help me get further in life and I think it would be fun to be class president.” Holly Blair, eighth grade, is vice president, Margaret Lloyd, eighth grade, is treasurer and she said, “I wanted to be treasurer because I think it would be a cool job.” Hank Griffin, seventh grade, is secretary, and Trey Davis, seventh grade is chaplain/seargent at arms.