As my time at Middle College High School comes to an end, I can’t help but be concerned about the accusation being constantly uttered by some students: “ASB is corrupt.” It seems that as the years went by, people began bandwagoning the trend of disliking the school’s Associated Student Body (ASB). To an extent, I view this as ironic because the students dislike their own representatives, ASB. Nonetheless, my opinion has never faltered throughout my high school experience. I stand with ASB.

People at MCHS have been pretty divided when it comes to ASB. Some are for it, while others are against, and rarely are there people who stand on the middle ground. For me, ASB has done more good than it has ever done bad. Quite frankly, I believe too many people are quickly agitated when nooners or activities don’t go the way they want them to. We are all quick to judge but we don’t realize just how fortunate we are to have ASB on our campus.

For starters, ASB has done wonders for MCHS. All the dances, activities, and events that promote and harbor school pride are all conducted by ASB. In such a small school, it’s difficult to boost morale given that we are all often busy. In our daily routine of college courses, tests, and quizzes, we often find ourselves out of time to wind down. ASB realized this and took the initiative to create nooners, activities that take place during lunch to help us relax and have fun. The problem is that students often blame ASB for the lack of participation when it’s something that they can’t control, as shown by the Winter Formal dance.

When asked why so many people say that ASB is corrupt, junior Dylan Mai said, “I think it’s because of a lack of communication. I don’t think students fully understand the intentions behind our decision-making process, so they often misinterpret some decisions as attempts to benefit us, not them. That’s not their fault; we haven’t done the best job of telling people why some things are the way they are. However, we’re trying to improve.”

Additionally, when it comes to school events, ASB students are mostly always there. From the flag football tournament to SAUSD’s School Choice Fair, you can rely on them representing the school and empowering our students. All and all, ASB does an amazing job to ensure that there are students supporting most events, especially those outside of school hours. Furthermore, ASB has held pep rallies to boost up Middle College High School’s sports team, proving that they genuinely want to motivate the school body to support our teams. While we often forget or are too busy to attend these events outside of school, ASB can be relied on to be supporting our school and our fellow students.

Despite the fact that I do believe ASB is doing an effective job, I must confess there are some events that could have been better planned. For example, the whole budget problem with the Winter Formal dance. However, it is important to note that most of the funds for ASB come from student-run fundraising events. Moreover, it’s important to note that the whole reason they lost that much money, was because of the lack of participation from the student body in the first place, as the ASB president explained.

When asked why they dislike ASB, senior Joseluis Rangel said, “Because it feels like everyone else does. It’s become a growing trend. When your friends say it, you begin to believe it.”

The fact that some people dislike ASB solely based on the mob mentality is a clear indication that change needs to occur. Not just only from ASB but also our community at MCHS. Whether it’s reworking the method the way a student enters ASB or breaking the stigma surrounding ASB, it’s up to the students of MCHS to decide what the future holds for the student body. My hope is that through writing this article, this change occurs sooner than later.

The fact of the matter is, there is really no alternative to our school’s ASB. We are all fortunate that there are students on our campus that are actively attempting to boost our morale. I confess that there have been some decisions that don’t work out as intended, but when no else is trying to do what they are doing, can we really complain? I mean, who are we to judge them, when we don’t participate in the events that they plan such as dances and assemblies? In conclusion, maybe rather than mindlessly saying, “ASB is corrupt” when things don’t go our way, we should attempt to be engaged in their activities. After all, ASB is students like you and I, so maybe we should be supportive rather than quick-tempered.

Junior Dylan Mai said, “We (ASB) are actively trying to amp up school spirit by having more spirit weeks nooners, and by putting more effort into giving you a great high school experience, so keep an eye out for that! We have a lot of exciting things we want to do.”