Student Government Day, one of the most anticipated events for both the students and the town is coming! The program has been running for at least 30 years is unique to North Providence. Mrs. Bedard and Ms. Bozigian are the current club advisers. There are roughly 40 or more positions available for juniors or seniors. Students have the chance to nominate themselves for any town position that they desired.

In a recent interview with Ms. Bozigian she explained the three step process. First, there is a voting process based off of the real Rhode Island voting machine which occurs for 2 days, as each class goes to the library and cast their vote with the formal RI Ballot. Then, the vote it is all tabulated, so that there is no miscounting. Once elected to the position, the students will be able to participate in the two day program. In the first day, all of the students and advisers gather together to have a mock town council meeting. The mayor’s office also sets up a guest speaker, someone who is in the political or media industry. On the second day, each student shadows their representative and there is a closing ceremony with a final banquet. The dates for the two day program will be May 17th and 18^th and voting takes place during April.

Ms. Bozigian thinks that it is an important event for various reasons. When asked why, she said “It is fun to experience with the voting ballots before the students are actually old enough to vote. It is important that these sorts of programs run for young adults who for the most part receive no prior education on the voting style and should have some sort of knowledge on the governmental aspects of the town” As a student, she remembered participating in the event, and running for the office. She thought it was interesting to see how the voting process occurred and learned more about it. She continued to explain that “by gaining more knowledge you actually get to go out and being involved in the civic responsibility as a citizen and learn more about how the government works, even on a local level as states and even towns run their different laws… You can also see if maybe a government position is a career path that you might be interested in.” She would like to clarify that there is a chance that the position that someone is running for may not have a representative that can give out their time to be with the student, but students are then paired up with someone who is similar on that area.

Nevertheless, Ms. Bozigian and various other participants and students have promote and agree that Student Government Day is a great event!