Draft #4 (Final Draft)
A community I was a part of for all four years in high school was my school’s Academy of Law and Government (ALAG). ALAG is a program specifically designed to provide students who join it with as much relevant information as possible through specific classes for whatever law and/or government career goals they have.
ALAG is a revered community for me, and it holds a special place in my heart for what it gave to me. It gave me something I think truly makes one consider a community as such: a sense of belonging and kinship. I spent those four years with the same students who have similar aspirations as I do, the same students who are interested in similar things as I am. They wore the same black ALAG shirts every Monday that I did, and were willing to dedicate themselves to the program just like I was. ALAG was a way for me to take many steps in the right direction towards pursing what I want to do. It afforded me opportunities I might not have had without it.
By being in ALAG I was also part of its audience, which is mostly made up of the students in the program. Aside from fundraising and what can really only be called recruitment presentations to incoming high school freshmen, ALAG’s communication is almost solely to its members.
One mode of said communication ALAG utilizes to reach its students is a monthly lunch meeting (called a general assembly) in which the elected president would update us on what is currently happening within the program, what is going to happen during that month, and any major upcoming events. These meetings were especially effective as compared to other modes because of one aspect that showcased just how much its audience is understood, and that aspect is free pizza.
Meetings unofficially start as soon as lunch does. Like everyone else, I sign in as board members hand out slices of pizza to those who have already found and highlighted their names. After everyone has a chance to settle down and tuck in, the president reads whatever is on the agenda before letting people leave if they choose to. Holding meetings during lunch and promising food draws students in; keeping the meetings as short and concise as possible makes sure students do not try to sneak away before it concludes.
Typically, these assemblies are just to give out information, but sometimes they asked us to do things, and that boiled down to the month. Every February meeting, the president reminds us that we are participating in Pasta for Pennies before giving a brief description of the fundraiser. A new fundraising goal is set, and then we are all given a small box to carry around for donations, due at the end of the month.
Attendance depends a lot on what is going on in ALAG. The most attended assembly is the one in which we vote for the board of representatives. Every member that shows up gets the chance to vote for several positions, including president-elect (chosen as a sophomore that works closely with the current president in their junior year until they take over in their senior year) and representatives for each grade level. Advertisements for this meeting are posters we see all over school, announcements in the morning, and repeated mentions for ALAG teachers.
The elections are also familiar with their audience. The promise of voting and the sight of campaign posters are enough to draw in members that rarely attend meetings. Short speeches from candidates help people decide who to vote for. Not everyone in the academy is in it for politics or for government, but by being in it we all develop a respect for democracy and a drive to participate in it. Its importance is emphasized not only by discussing what had to be done to get the government to where it is today, but what it means to be involved and how involvement is the only way to effect change. Regardless of how small-scale that change is, it still gives us the sense that we are changing something. For a lot of people in ALAG, myself included, that is why we joined in the first place.
Unlike my sophomore year when my class chose the future president, the election the following year had three candidates. This is the year that I can vividly recall those candidates having to stand up behind a podium in front of a majority of the academy and give a long speech about why they should be chosen for president-elect. I remember being in awe while listening to fifteen- and maybe sixteen-year-olds giving speeches that sounded like politicians who had been doing it for years could have written them.
Elections are maybe the most important things that happen in the academy, and they have the same audience as the academy itself but with different modes of communication. Campaigning mostly consists of posters, which is slightly less personal to the audience but no less effective. Walking around our horseshoe-shaped campus, the posters are easy for me and other ALAG students to spot. They are simple, displaying the name of the candidate, what they are running for, and often a slogan. If there is room and depending on the position, some have campaign promises. The ones I got to see were usually colorful and large enough to be eye-catching, strategically placed to get the most attention.
Like all communities, ALAG tries to communicate with its audience in the best way it possibly can. What the program uses to convey its message is centered around its audience made up of its members, also keeping in mind that those members are teenagers. By designing how it attempts to reach students around that, ALAG is able to share what it needs to share. The general assemblies bring my community together, and the elections that take place during those meetings remind us why we choose to be part of it.