Senior Madison Lison, the current executive board president of the Student Government Association (SGA), is planning and putting on this year’s homecoming dance, with the help of other students in the SGA.
Lison is an involved student, taking on a truckload of extracurriculars and staying involved within the nest. Her schedule is filled with several activities, both inside and outside of school. Along with student government, she also has JROTC, Junior Leadership Academic Bowl [JLAB,] and athletic training. She volunteers at church on the weekends and works as a teacher for preschool students.
“Being able to keep my GPA up is definitely something that I think is a huge accomplishment. It’s hard balancing schoolwork and outside work, and my accomplishments to me are being able to run this stuff and being trusted to do this,” stated Lison.
Lison manages multiple clubs, so it can be difficult for her to focus her attention on certain parts, but she still works hard on everything that she does. “She’s very organized, she steps up whenever we need help with anything, she always makes sure stuff is done,” said executive board vice president and junior Kyra Hayes.
She grew up very crafty and organized, so she was a natural for SGA and the projects that they worked on. “I love being able to plan this stuff out for people and being able to provide something for kids to enjoy, like Homecoming,” said Lison. “There was so much thought put into it last year. I want to make sure that I put just as much thought into it this year”
The SGA is a group of students who work together to manage the school. They plan events, make announcements, put up flyers, and make sure everything runs smoothly. Their current main project is the homecoming dance, and all things surrounding it, but they do a multitude of activities around the school.
Lison has been prioritizing the success of homecoming this year, and with the help of both students and teachers, this year’s homecoming looks to be eventful. “I’m looking forward to throwing a great homecoming for our last year, me and Madison [Lison], and we just hope it’s going to be nicely decorated and people are going to have lots of fun,” said executive board fundraising director and senior Sophia Fallacara.
Lison has a good idea of how to put on homecoming and where her focus is most needed. “When you’re planning homecoming and decorations you focus on the main points that everyone’s standing at, like the walkway as you enter, the trees, and the main patio area where everybody dances,” said Lison.
While homecoming is the task at hand as of now, Lison has other plans as well to upgrade the school. “We’re definitely trying to get more hype at pep rallies, making them more fun than they were last year. I want to bring back the spirit of the school, and I want to bring back the happiness and the joy that we get from doing these things,” stated Lison.
“I’ve been in SGA since freshman year and during sophomore year, we were helping with shirts, and by this time me and Madison were elected on exec [executive] board, and that day we just started talking, so that’s how we met and became really good friends,” said Hayes.
Lison matured at a young age, taking care of herself and her younger siblings when needed. This led to her being able to manage her time well and handle multiple tasks at once. “[Being mature] comes with its pros and its cons, because it’s a different mindset. Sometimes it’s a little hard when you don’t see eye to eye with people on things, but I like it because it helps me to lead people better,” said Lison.
As a leader, Lison is a very kind and cheerful person and those close to her really enjoy being around her. “She’s the nicest person you can ever meet, she’s very funny, and overall she’s just a very good person to be around,” said Hayes.
Lison stated, “I’m always kind, the last thing I want to do is hurt anybody’s feelings, because you never know what’s happening in somebody’s brain, what’s truly going on deep inside.”
Another one of Lison’s positive traits is her ability to be outgoing and her tendency to make friends very easily. She enjoys being asked questions, and is always willing to help people when they need it. “She’s a great leader, and she’s in charge of about a million clubs, but she always finds time to be in our club,” said Hayes.
Lison is great at staying calm when under pressure and even when she gets really stressed she still manages to finish what she started. “I love working with Madison, she’s very open minded, she makes sure everybody says together, she’s like the glue. She’s very sweet, funny and she makes it very enjoyable,” said Fallacara.
Being involved in many different clubs and activities has come with some trouble in the past. However, she always handled it professionally and now everything she’s involved in is much better. “With being in clubs, you’re always going to clash with somebody, and being president of them, it’s something that you have to be emotionally mature about, because you’re always going to have something that happens,” said Lison.
Lison tries her best to make sure everyone in the SGA is equal, and always takes others’ ideas into consideration. “Even though I’m President, I consider my position to be everybody’s position. My position is not higher up than anybody else’s, we’re the same,” said Lison. “That’s what I like about SGA, everybody’s on the same page.”
