At the end of the 2024 school year, after hearing speeches and voting on your preferred candidate, the Poly community announced who the senior leaders of our student government would be. Reese Roaman, president, Sadie Shoenberger, vice president, and Jack Bogner, secretary, have significant prior experience with student government and are excited for the upcoming year.
Poly Prep Student Body President Reese Roaman (News Editor for the Polygon) joined the Poly community in second grade and has been a student government representative for the past four years.
Roaman joined Student Government because of her desire to benefit the community. Roaman shared that as president, she has “a larger platform to advocate and execute [her] ideas.” She stresses that no matter what position a student holds, all student government members have the opportunity to advocate for their ideas. “We have as much power as anyone else to execute our ideas.”
Roaman said, “my role as president entails working with other student government members and faculty to create community events and policies that will positively affect student life.” Roaman will spend her presidency facilitating school spirit to create a tighter community. This includes more pep rallies, competitions, talent shows, candy grams, buddy opportunities between different grades, and a surprise she is planning but has yet to disclose. Her goal is to “utilize [Poly’s campus and opportunities] to create the closest community and have more events to bring out all the different personalities, skills, and talents that the student body has,” said Roaman. “I also rely on the student government Instagram to facilitate large-scale communication with the entire student body.”
Roaman has a profound appreciation for Poly’s role in allowing students to be multidimensional and explore any aspect of their interests, without restrictions or scrutiny. The diverse representation among members of student government is also crucial to its success. “Student government’s purpose is to represent all the students. Since all representatives are involved in different sectors of Poly, it makes us more productive and able to represent a vast amount of student needs,” said Roaman. The Polygon website states that Roaman is the news editor, co-leader of Women’s Affinity, Vice President of Model UN, Blue Key ambassador, and co-captain of the tennis team.
The biggest challenge Roaman said she faces as President is turning down unrealistic or unattainable requests, despite how appealing they may seem. She hopes students are comfortable communicating with representatives and pitching new ideas. “Whenever someone in government gets an idea from a student, we don’t throw it away. We write it down and discuss how we can do it,” added Roaman.
In her sophomore year, Roaman co-created the Shark Tank event with Senior Sadie Schoenberger. (Schoenberger is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Polygon.)
Sadie Schoenberger ’25 is Vice President of Student Government. The Polygon website states that she is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Polygon, Assistant Director and Documentary Producer of the Upper School Musicals, co-leader of Neurodiversity Affinity group, and choregrapher for Afternoon of Student Choregraphy. She entered Poly in sixth grade and originally never ran to be a representative but found herself constantly advocating for her grade. “Communicating issues in a respectful way and trying to problem solve is always something I was interested in,” said Schoenberger. Which eventually led her to run and win the election in tenth grade.
“My role is to help Roaman with her plans, as well as my own, in this more senior position,” said Schoenberger. “Mostly it’s hearing the concerns and ideas of the amazing people in the Upper School. It’s my job to make sure what we’re talking about in [student government meetings] actually turns into action and not just discussion, and that everyone in the school in general is happy.”
Schoenberger allocates her efforts to overlooked aspects of student life. “Because I feel that spirit is taken care of, I don’t think it should be my priority. I am more interested in the culture amongst students with regards to teachers, curriculum, and college,” such as improving grading policies, said Schoenberger. “I’m also always looking for ways to have the arts more involved. I think Poly is a sports school first, but we have some amazing arts programs.” She is a member of the AI committee and works to form school policies surrounding the use of AI and how it can be both a benefit and a detriment. Another top priority she hopes to implement is recycling former study guides and notes to be passed down to younger grades.
When asked about her biggest takeaway from her tenure at Poly, Schoenberger noted that, “in student government and other activities, I’ve gotten accustomed to communicating with teachers, and I am going to keep that skill during college because it’s a great way to get opportunities and create relationships.”
Student Government Secretary, Jack Bogner ’25, has been a representative since 2021 and entered Poly in eighth grade. He is a member of Poly’s track team, hurdles, and is co-president of the Jewish Caucus, helping to create a safe space during the Israel-Hamas war, according to the April issue of the Polygon. “The Secretary is in charge of taking down notes [about events or ideas] on our student government document,” said Bogner. “I like the challenge, because it’s hard to communicate with administration. I like being a voice for my classmates.”
“I want to focus on new hangout spaces and events,” said Bogner. “One way we can improve student life is by creating new spaces for students to hang out.” He believes this could be either in the new arts building or by utilizing classrooms. He works very closely with the spirit captains to facilitate more community events. “The Spirit captain’s role is similar to ours. They are more focused on the events and propose themes. They have all these ideas that anyone can comment on in the student government.” Bogner also believes that all members of student government have equal opportunity to advocate for their grades.
In terms of what the student government is focusing on this year, Bogner explained that, “we’re hoping this year is something that people will remember in the future and will want to continue the good work that we will do.”
