As the schoolwide SGA president, senior Lulu August carries many burdens on her shoulders. She is in charge of managing over 100 SGA members, orchestrating events, and connecting committees in order to get things done. She spends much of her free time doing SGA-related activities, whether it’s attending a club meeting or manning an SGA table on Main Street during lunch.

In just the past few months, the SGA has accomplished many things. They organized homecoming, a smashing hit with the students. They held a canned food drive, a toy drive for schools in Honduras, and an Afghan refugee drive. 

In addition to all of the drives, the SGA has been working closely with numerous clubs at RM to better the community. They are currently working with Compostology, a county-wide nonprofit, to support a bill that will help implement composting programs in Maryland schools. They are also working with the Black Student Union and the RM Student Equity Committee to plan events for Black History Month. 

There is much to look forward to in the future as well, such as the annual blood drive, the student-staff basketball game, and the famous Mr. RM, for which the SGA is currently preparing.

Orchestrating all of this is a ton of work for one person, but Lulu August does it all with a smile. Of course, on top of her SGA duties, she still has to contend with the stress of homework and tests just like any other student. Yet, she manages to find a balance, constantly growing as a person. Her open and well-spoken personality makes her easy to talk to, an especially important skill for the leader of the SGA. 

In an interview, Lulu August shared her experiences with SGA and the lessons she has learned. This conversation has been edited and condensed.

What has been your experience with SGA before running to be school president? When did you start getting involved?

Over the pandemic, when I was a sophomore, I saw the RMHS SGA executive board sign up sheets. And I kind of just applied on a whim. But I always thought back to when I was a freshman. All these people in my classes had such cool clubs, and they were the president of these clubs. They had found their niche and they knew what they were passionate about. And I didn’t really know. I just wanted to create more opportunities for people to support a club. So then I applied, and luckily got accepted, to be a club liaison on the SGA executive board. And then I decided to run for SGA President because I enjoyed it so much. I had ideas about how to make SGA even better.

What has been your favorite part of the job so far?

It’s kind of cheesy, but the people. You know, I think with anything, oftentimes your favorite thing is the people that you get to work with. But I think as president I might get some credit for the things that I’ve done, but in reality there are over 100 students in SGA working to put together all these events. My main job is literally to be the glue between the different committees that are working together. But a lot of the time the main organizing comes from other students, not me. And it’s so cool to see how creative people are, how talented people are. Painting banners, making videos, planning logistics, learning how to work with different people, has just been really fun. I look forward to it every day.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

The biggest challenge is learning when to let go of certain things. In the beginning, I was definitely taking on too much. If there was an Instagram post that needed to be made, or an email that needed to be sent out I would do it. And I realized that things were not getting done. So you not only have to learn how to delegate things, but you have to learn how to delegate to the right people. And that means getting to know the people you’re working with, because you might tell someone to make an Instagram post, but their graphic skills might be terrible. And really what they should be doing is planning the pep rally, because they’re a super spirited person. Delegating to the right people, and making sure that you check up with them on a regular basis.

Although you are the SGA president, you are still just a highschool student. How do you balance duties as the school president with duties as a student?

I don’t know if I’m the right person to ask… Sometimes I do literally stay up until 2:00 am. And then wake up at five, which is terribly unhealthy. That’s only happened like twice or three times, but the fact that it’s happened is a little concerning. Honestly, what I’ve learned is that oftentimes, things work out anyways. Like I might have three essays due one night and an event that still needs to be planned. And it’ll just so happen that one of the teachers will extend the due date. And it turns out, someone else is already working on the event planning. It might seem like things are really not going to work out, but they often do. So sometimes it’s best to not stress about it. And the other thing is, while you want to do the best you can with an event, you have to understand that things are not going to be perfect all the time. They rarely are, but they’re usually still okay. It’s high school, you have to chill out a little bit. Not everything’s going to be great. And you have to learn when to put your 100% effort on the things you really care about. And sometimes the assignment is not that worth it. It doesn’t need to be perfect.

How do you balance your social life with your duties as the president?

What social life? Oh my God, I don’t even go out to lunch. Kind of like, the worst social life probably of anyone. I don’t really go out that often. I think, at the beginning of the year, when I was taking on too much, I would miss a lot of lunchtime and I had to eat in fifth period and things like that. Now, I know how to schedule my time better. So if I have a bunch of meetings to go to, which happens as SGA president, I try to move them to one day of the week. Sometimes I have to say I can’t come because I’ve been in a meeting every other day of the week, and I have to have time to take a break and have fun.

What advice would you give to a younger student who wants to get involved with the SGA or become the president?

SGA is really great. We have positions that open that you can apply for in late April, early May. You can run to be your class president, if you’re interested in that kind of thing. You can also join the student leadership class, which is open to all students, but you need to apply to that one as well. So I guess there are a lot of applications. 

But a lot of the time, if you have an idea about something that you really care about, literally come talk to me, email the SGA, DM the SGA on Instagram. We’ll find a way. Like the Afghan refugee drive was not like an original SGA idea or anything. It was because one of my classmates came up to me and was like, “This is something I’m really passionate about and I feel like we’re not doing enough as a school. How can we help?” So that’s how we planned the drive. And it was a really successful drive too. 

SGA demands that you have initiative. You cannot wait for someone to just tell you what to do all the time, because sometimes they’re not going to be there. You also have to be someone who has passion. It doesn’t necessarily have to be passion about an idea. You could just have passion for video editing. So when it’s time for you to come up with an advertisement for RMBC or for social media, you’re not going to just make a basic advertisement on Google Slides. You’re going to film it, you’re going to choose music that’s creative. You’re going to edit it creatively. So I feel like that’s one of the important things, initiative and passion. But SGA really is for everyone. Anyone can do it.