By Christine Garcia and Arielle Nguyen
On April 17, 2024, Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) Associated Student Body (ASB) announced the official executive board of the 2024-2025 school year. ASB is a student organization that works closely with FVHS’ administration to represent student voices while being responsible for hosting events to boost school spirit.
There are six executive positions including the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and two co-parliamentarians.
President Kayla Nguyen is a representative for ASB at district board meetings or the voice for students with FVHS’ administration. As president, Kayla Nguyen is responsible for communicating with Patricia Brewer, ASB’s advisor, while overseeing all of ASB’s activities. In addition to Kayla Nguyen, Isaac Luu is the vice president who runs the House of Representatives, while acting as a spare if Nguyen is unable to operate as president.
Secretary Joyce-Pauline Dang maintains the records of the House of Representative meetings, as well as the ASB club conferences. In addition to keeping records, Dang organizes and distributes information to clubs on campus, for events such as Fall Fest, Club Rush and more.
Chloe Im is the ASB treasurer, who budgets FVHS’ funds while helping ASB Bookkeeper Valerie Kerney control the ASB funds at the activities office. Im wanted to create a change on FVHS’ campus.
“I joined ASB to … advocate for my … fellow students, because … it’s always nice to have a fellow voice on campus and just for everyone to be represented,” Im said.
Mckayla Garcia and Josh Nguyen share a position as Co-Parliamentarians, though they have their own responsibilities. Garcia informs Fountain Valley Senate’s executive board of upcoming ASB events, and vice versa, in hopes of exposing the student body to memorable experiences.
“During eighth grade, I was in ASB, but since we had COVID, we didn’t get the chance to really plan anything,” Garcia said. “I wanted to come into high school and be able to do that.”
Josh Nguyen reaches out to the local community to attend FVHS’ events. Additionally, he oversees the Mentorship Program, a program in which FVHS feeder schools and other middle schools visit the campus to learn about ASB’s different commissions.
“I was part of my [middle school’s] ASB program for three years,” Josh Nguyen said. “[I joined FVHS ASB because] I just wanted to continue to learn how to lead and grow my leadership skills.”
Garcia and Josh Nguyen are also in charge of the voting process for events including Homecoming and Prom.
This year, the executive board wants to include more diversity at school events. Not just for students but ASB is working with FVHS’ teachers to establish their new “staff buddy” to encourage staff to participate in school events and to advertise student activities.
“The idea with staff buddies is for [ASB members] to build the connection with teachers themselves,” Kayla Nguyen said. “I feel like teachers and students just have such a professional barrier … ASB really wants them to feel like we want them at events. We don’t just want them to chaperone … we want them to have fun.”
When it comes to ASB events, the executive board is determined to include more than just FVHS students in school activities. ASB is responsible for planning and hosting school events such as Baron Games, on top of supporting FVHS’ athletic teams.
“I think glow show was a great example of … bringing in our community, like families, friends, everyone was there,” Dang said. “And so I just think that with all the football games … all the tournaments … I think that’s a great way to improve school spirit and inclusivity.”
In addition to the Glow Show, ASB also hosted the Bell Game, Homecoming and various assemblies. The overwhelming schedule, paired with the members’ respective extracurriculars, may seem daunting, and at times, unbearable. However, harnessing time management is crucial to their roles.
“Over the summer ASB came [to FVHS’ campus] and planned out … Bell Week [to get] commission work done [to] cater to their commission. But we always plan ahead, and we make sure that all of our work is completed ahead of time,” Josh Nguyen said.
The amount of dedication and time ASB requires is no easy task. Time spent over the summer, before and after school and after the end of events may increase, but this year’s executive board handles each day with patience and a spirited drive.
“[Being an ASB member] definitely gets hard … with all the events that we have. But … as long as you have the passion [and] the spirit for it, I think you could definitely get through it,” Kayla Nguyen said. “ASB is one big family … You don’t … get through it alone [because] we have each other. We depend on each other … like we all work together.”
This year’s executive board is one of many and they wouldn’t be the board they are today if it were for the past positions that created the pathway for them. However, the 2024-2025 board has come far, to include more voices on the ASB committee.
“All the past boards have done an excellent job with our ASB … without them, we couldn’t have been where we are today,” Kayla Nguyen said. “One thing that … sets us apart from [previous boards] is the fact that we are a lot more diverse with [grade levels] … this is the first year I’ve seen that we have a sophomore, multiple juniors and then only three seniors. I think it’s great to have a lot of underclassmen on the board … it helps bring diversity so we can hear more voices.
The ASB team works hard to plan and create many of FVHS’ on-campus entertainment. Although, these events wouldn’t be possible without the students. ASB encourages all students and their families to attend as many events as possible to boost the Baron Spirit.
“Students can support ASB just by attending all our events,” Luu said. “Our campus is built on student culture and spirit, so inviting a lot of your friends or people to [our events] really helps … make it more hype. We have [a cornhole tournament] signups right now, [so] students can get involved in that.”
If students are unable to take part in these occasions, supporting them can be as simple as talking about them! Word of mouth, reposting flyers on your social media — there are many ways to show love to your student body! In addition to attending events, many can get involved through the various, diverse clubs on campus.
“Students can get involved in clubs,” Josh Nguyen said. “[Clubs] build a lot of bridges and connect you with a lot of other people. I wish someone in my freshmen year [told me] to get more involved.”
With many things to look forward to, the 2024-2025 executive board plans on creating an exciting upcoming year to make it memorable for FVHS students.
Unsure how to get involved. According to the executive board, join clubs, go to dances and games and most importantly, “Follow @FVASB,” Dang said.
