Several Odenville Middle School students, teachers and parents visited New York City recently. Several of the students are members of the SGA.
The award-winning OMS Student Government Association along with teacher and sponsor Tammy Williams and Principal Debra Carroll.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley congratulates OMS SGA sponsor Tammy Williams for being named Middle School Advisor of the Year.
They won awards in every division they entered.
The SGA won first place in the scrapbook competition; first place in Leadership and Service Project; Anisa Heilman won second place in speech competition; and Tammy Williams, OMS SGA sponsor, walked away with the Middle School Advisor of the Year Award.
The OMS SGA also won the statewide service project contest “Go Green” with cell phones to help the environment. They collected 279 cell phones and the SGA won an iPad for their local school by winning the contest.
“As you can tell, the Odenville Middle School SGA is very active,” Williams said. “This is the most active SGA I’ve seen in the past nine years. The more we do, the more they want to do. They keep me very busy. I am very proud of my students. I felt like Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift at the CMA Awards the night of the banquet. Every time they called out an award for each division, OMS was a winner.”
Williams said student government is a big thing at OMS.
“Our mission is to teach our students the importance of government and the role one can play when they enter the real world, the future,” Williams said. “Students actually participate in the election process by campaigning, making a speech, casting a vote and taking the oath of office.”
The OMS SGA consists of 25 active members from grades six through eight. St. Clair County District Judge Robert Minor officiated in swearing in the SGA this year on Constitution Day.
“The students loved him,” Williams said.
OMS was elected last year to serve on the board of directors as an advisory council for a three-year term. Williams said their term expires in 2013.
OMS Principal Debra Carroll said this SGA is one of the best groups the school has ever had.
“I am so proud of them for all the work they have done out in the community,” Carroll said. “Their work has been meaningful, not just some project they had to do. I am amazed at what all they’ve done this year.”
Anisa Heilman is SGA president and shocked they won so many awards.
“I am really proud of our SGA for working so hard,” Heilman said. “Those who worked on the scrapbook worked very hard. It looks like it took five years to put together instead of three weeks. We all worked very hard to accomplish all the things we did.”
Caley Whitehead has been a member of the OMS SGA for one year.
“Winning all these awards just shows all the hard work we have been through,” Whitehead said. “It’s amazing to see all the awards that were won. It’s just great.”
Contact Gary Hanner at ghanner@thestclairtimes.com.
