On paper, the role of Dougherty Valley’s Associated Student Body (ASB) officers is to “represent the student body at district meetings, organize various Leadership class events, and oversee the work and progress of each Leadership team.” But the reality of the job, according to the people who hold it, runs much deeper.
Kei Vo, current ASB Vice President and senior, explained how the ASB constitution is not the only guide for their roles, nor a holistic overview. “What most don’t know is that we’re the final channel that oversees club expenditures, fundraisers, huge student events and the leadership class itself,” she said.
Leadership teacher Daniel Bowen, who has worked with most of this year’s ASB officers since their freshman or sophomore year, said their behind the scenes work is constant.
“Every day they’re checking in with me, including weekends in most cases, either keeping me up to date on what’s going on in the school or what students need,” Bowen recounted. “I’m not having to prompt them, they’re keeping the ball rolling.”
Each officer on the team carries a distinct set of responsibilities that go far beyond what most students see. As ASB President, Matthew Ngyuen served as the primary liaison between students and school administration.
“Twice a week, Matthew communicates with the admin to facilitate homeroom and announcements to make sure there is communication between the student body and the staff,” Bowen said.
As ASB Vice President, Vo said her role was to step in wherever the president could not, but in practice, the responsibilities ran much wider than that. She aimed to be a voice for students on campus that might not have been outgoing, drawing from her experience in a wide variety of cultural, academic and service clubs.
“We highlighted student voices on the announcements this year by talking about clubs that may not be necessarily well known, and their students’ accomplishments,” she said.
Ishaan Savla, meanwhile, as ASB Treasurer handled the financial backbone of the school year, working closely with the school’s bookkeepers Ana Siladie and Rene Matsumoto on a weekly basis.
“There’s more to the role of treasurer than people would imagine,” Bowen said. “He has access to the finance accounts for clubs and for ASB, so he’s regularly keeping tabs on where we’re at financially.”
That oversight extended to major events. Vo noted the monthly approval meetings that occur to approve club funds and school events, most notably, Prom.
“Prom is one of those events where we can’t lose money on it,” Bowen said. “The cost was above $160,000, and Ishaan had to make sure that ticket prices were reasonable enough but we weren’t losing money.”
Aditya Aiyer, as student representative, served as the link between ASB and the school’s parent and booster organizations, including the PTSA. In particular, Aiyer worked to use student feedback to push his team to improve.
“He [Aiyer] was on the class competition team last year, and he took the feedback that he got from all the LTAs [Lunch Table Activities] and rally games last year to implement this year,” Vo stated.
Additionally, three of the five officers, Ngyuen, Mahyari and Aiyer chose to enroll in freshman Leadership as seniors, serving as mentors to the quarter of the freshman class that signed up for this elective.
“They’re doing it because they genuinely care about impacting the freshman class,” Bowen said. “A lot of these kids are obviously scared, nervous and very new to high school, and each of the officers have gone out of their way to guide them.”
Vo said she tried to carry her responsibility as a voice for students into everyday moments.
“We highlighted student voices on the announcements this year by talking about clubs that may not be necessarily well known,” she said. “We also highlighted student accomplishments.”
That dedication to others extended to how the officers managed their own team dynamic as well. With any new team comes friction, and Vo was candid about how this year’s officers navigated disagreements.
“When it comes to school-related stuff, I’m pretty confrontational. I’m not scared to talk about how I feel,” she said. “That’s kind of how we got over that.”
Throughout the year, the team addressed challenges head on, and Vo said she hoped the incoming officer team would bring the same willingness to communicate.
“I hope that they’re able to work cohesively together, because I feel like the biggest issue that we came into this year was just a lot of competing opinions and competing ideas,” she said.
Bowen attributes the closeness of the current team to their effective collaboration with each other.
“With leadership, and particularly in that role [ASB], from day one, there’s a spotlight on you from the leadership class,” Bowen said. “They all have done a really good job of learning how each other works, giving each other space when they need to and navigating the spotlight on them.”
Although the officers had not worked together before in this capacity, and did not have a hand in choosing the team themselves, teamwork remained strong throughout.
“From my perspective, they finished the year tighter than when they started,” Bowen stated.
That closeness, both Vo and Bowen agree, was always in service of something bigger than the team itself.
“Yeah, we can plan all these cool events, but at the end of the day, it’s not those that make high school memorable,” Vo said. “It’s more about how people made you feel, which is why I focused on interactions with students.”
Bowen stressed that what set this year’s team apart was not any single event, but the intangible accomplishment of the empathy they had for the student body and the way they showed up for the school.
“I think it’s so important, on any team, to support each other and have each other’s backs,” he said. “The common goal for the ASB officers is just to serve the Leadership class and school with integrity. And I think that was modeled well this year.”
