History of StuGo

1966 Student Council meeting

1966 Student Council meeting

The Student Government has been a part of the school for many years, organizing events and representing the student body. But StuGo has fundamentally changed in the years since it’s birth

 

“[Student Government] was very respected, those people that were in those positions. They took it very seriously,” Joan Barker, Historical Society Secretary, said.

 

At it’s height, StuGo, then called Student Council, was a highly respected organization. Elections were taken very seriously, involving large amounts of propaganda, and were run by students as opposed to faculty.

 

“Students were the ones that ran all of the elections. So those were elected positions, like an election commissioner and election secretaries. I don’t know why that ended, but my feeling is that there was some hanky-panky going, the students were stuffing the ballots, so they turned to the faculty to do that. That was a huge job in student government,” Barker said.

 

Also included in the Student Council was a Representative Council, made up of representatives elected by each Home Room, which aided the Council in planning events and in discussions.

 

[Student Government] used to be organized differently, and there were different positions. Every class had at least one representative, there was a representative council. So each home room, or Trojan Time, elected I think two representatives. So that was another governmental group that made decisions, and organized things,” Barker said.

Vintage Campaign cards for school elections
Vintage Campaign cards for school elections
Ballots used in Topeka High elections
Ballots used in Topeka High elections

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class presidents being sworn in by the Kansas supreme court justice
Class presidents being sworn in by a Kansas supreme court justice
Program from the annual election assembly
Program from the annual election assembly