By Ian Chen. Part Two of the series “Shaping the Year Ahead” checking in with MCR SGA leaders for the 2025-2026 school year. See Part 1 on the directors in charge of legislative direction here.

Montgomery County Regional (MCR) Student Government Association’s Executive Board is a group of student leaders, advocates and changemakers working to represent the over 50,000 high school students across the county. 

Every year, directors are appointed through an application process open to all MCPS high school students. Applicants submit materials highlighting their leadership experience, advocacy work and vision for the department they hope to lead. Each department director brings a unique focus, from shaping legislative priorities to directing student task forces, ensuring that MCR’s work reflects the diverse needs of MCPS students.

To better understand their vision for the 2025–2026 school year, we asked the Finance Director, Task Forces Director and Workshops Director a set of questions about how they plan to carry out their mission of supporting the initiatives of student advocates across the county.

Interviews edited for length and clarity.

Sreeyan Nampally – Finance Director

What are your main priorities for managing MCR’s budget this year?

We will manage the budget by allocating funds toward our grant programs and planning impactful MCR events throughout the year. To replenish and sustain our budget, we’re organizing fundraisers during general assemblies, launching an alumni engagement program and offering MCR merchandise. To ensure funding truly supports student initiatives, we’ll carefully evaluate grant applications based on criteria such as community impact, credibility of the proposal and potential for meaningful student engagement.

How do you plan to make the MCR Grant Program and other funding opportunities more accessible and transparent for students?

To make the MCR Grant Program and other funding opportunities more accessible and transparent, we plan to simplify the application process with clear, step-by-step guides and FAQs available on our website and social media. Transparency will be a priority; we will publish timelines and selection criteria.

By the end of your term, what improvements or lasting impact do you hope to make on how MCR handles finances and supports student-led projects?

By the end of my term, I hope to leave behind a more sustainable and student-friendly financial system within MCR. This includes expanding the grant program so more student-led projects across the county get the support they need, creating a clearer and more accessible budgeting process and building stronger fundraising channels like alumni donations and merchandise sales. Most importantly, I want to ensure that future student leaders have the tools and transparency they need to confidently access and manage funds that empower real change in their schools and communities.

Ruth Gelaye – Task Forces Director

What are your top priorities for the Task Forces this year?

This year, our top priority is definitely engaging a more diverse student body representative of the MCPS population. I think that inclusive advocacy will certainly help further the reflectiveness of each taskforces’ values in MCR advocacy. 

How will you ensure students outside of MCR’s Executive Board can participate in and benefit from Task Force work?

Task Forces rely on participation from students across MCPS in order to advocate for concerns on behalf of the student voice, so we will be making announcements through Canvas, partnering with other student-led organizations to bridge connections/shared concerns and utilizing social media to advertise opportunities and events. 

What outcomes or impact do you hope the Task Forces will achieve by the end of the school year?

By the end of the year, we hope the Task Forces will have brought in a more representative student base, have hosted at least two advocacy events or workshops and created partnerships with other youth-led organizations. The only way to truly create impact is through county-wide collaboration that can stand beyond just this year, and a better understanding of how students can play a role in larger scale policy decisions. 

Victoria Kaprielian – Workshops Director

What themes or skills do you plan to focus on in this year’s workshops?

The Department of Workshops hopes to be able to hone in on building practical leadership skills such as public speaking, event planning and effective communication. We aim to incorporate themes like intersectionality, equity in student leadership and community organizing to empower students to take meaningful action for themselves, beyond the workshops.

How will you ensure workshops are accessible to students from all backgrounds and experience levels?

We are planning our workshops to be more interactive and collaborative rather than lecture-based. We are also assigning a large diverse group of student leaders to present the workshops to ensure our materials reflect the wide range of student experiences in MCPS.

By the end of your term, what impact do you hope your department’s programming will have on student leadership and advocacy in MCPS?

I hope students walk away from our workshops feeling more confident in their ability to lead, advocate and make change in MCPS. Whether they are planning a meeting for a club or preparing testimony for the Board of Education, I want these workshops to serve as catalysts for the true impact that the students of MCPS are able to create.

Other Articles in the Series

Shaping the year ahead: Meet the MCR SGA Directors in charge of next year’s legislative direction

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