Junior Maggie Ly was chosen to be the new ASB CLOG commissioner for the 2017-2018 school year, according to the Activities Director, Joanna Butcher. As Clog Commissioner, Maggie serves as the liaison between the different CLOGs of MHS and ASB and to handle the chartering process of formalizing CLOGs on the MHS campus, Butcher explained.
The CLOG chartering process involves paperwork, officer training, and final approval by ASB to be chartered at the CLOG chartering congress. The chartering process occurs at specific Congress dates during August, November, and May, according to Ly. “We [ASB] release the application. CLOGS would find them online, fill them out, and submit a hard copy to ASB. We would look over paperwork, see if they’re missing anything or if anything is wrong or incorrect. They would fix that, and hopefully they would make it on to the Congress agenda to be chartered,” Ly said.
“It was a little complicated …it’s harder for us, like you have to keep on printing the papers because like if you don’t type like your advisor’s name or something and you just write it with your hand they won’t accept it,” Environmental Society of MHS President Puneet Kaur said.
However according to MHS Speech and Debate President Nisha Porchezhiyan, digitized paperwork for chartering makes life more organized. “I honestly thought it wasn’t a lot, but it wasn’t a little either. I think it’s the right amount, because you know, being president or even an officer in and of itself is basically like a job, and every single career out there requires paperwork to be filled out. I think Maggie is doing a really good job,” Porchezhiyan said.
The CLOG chartering process at MHS is more complicated than that at other nearby high schools, according to Math Club Advisor Elena Sherbakov. Club officers complained about over complication, and though the process is well designed, it could also be simplified, Sherbakov said.
“Because it’s new this year how they were having it on ADOBE fillable forms, a lot of CLOGs are confused on our requirements. Hopefully for the second semester chartering, I will have an example copy that I fill out myself instead of just having it blank and telling the CLOGS that everything is electronically fillable,” Ly added.
Some reasons for clubs being denied include: all four core officers not being present at a club training, missing paperwork, missing deadlines, and so on, said Ly. She added that she hopes to increase communication between both ASB and CLOGs, as well reducing ambiguity within the process.
“It would be very nice if the CLOGS were more open about giving me more feedback about everything that goes on. If they would voice their opinions a lot more often I would do my best to fix it and help them improve,” Ly said. According to Ly, one of her goals for this school year is to spotlight some of the CLOGs around campus and bring attention to their causes as well.
Maggie wants to work on sharing information, maintaining transparency, figuring out how to simplify things and explaining certain ASB processes, and has been doing a good job, according to Butcher. There was 100% attendance at the last CLOG council, Butcher added.
