Carter Wagner

Junior and current DCA Carter Wagner initially became involved in Student Government because of his experience as a new incoming freshman. “They aren’t really given a voice to involve themselves, and that’s what motivated me to join,” Wagner said. “Once I was in, I was hooked.”

Wagner promises that he will focus on introducing and voting on external proposals to change aspects of Parker outside of Student Government. He believes that Cabinet spent too much time on things like the Morning Ex Refinement Proposal and Senate Representative Proposal, the latter of which the Cabinet never enforced. “We need to take charge of the change and not just do small tweaks because internal proposals are not always an effective use of time,” Wagner said. “I find it really frustrating that we spend so much time on internal proposals, but we didn’t vote in the external proposals like Senior Month and the Art Credit Proposal. It got turned over to the administration before the Student Body could give an opinion on it.”

In addition to the proposal process, Wagner wants to plan more fairs and community events, specifically a Social Justice Fair. Wagner also hopes to implement general Cabinet reform to improve the role of the Student Government Media Manager and push the Directors of Cross-Grade Communication to work with incoming freshmen, as well as supplying the DCA with a food budget for committee meetings.

“I want to increase communication and transparency and rework Cabinet review,” Wagner said. “A flaw this year was that Cabinet broadly said they were meeting with the administration instead of conveying what topics were discussed and how the president was fighting for these students.”

While Wagner also served as Pride Committee Head, he believes his Cabinet position as DCA uniquely qualified him to work with the Upper School. 

“Every Cabinet member has its purpose. The Senate is managing a conversation, the treasurer is managing money, and I think the DCA is managing people,” Wagner said. “I’m very good at having one on one conversations and encouraging people when they need support.”

As DCA, Wager has shown his ability to bring people together and create events for the whole student body. “In the midst of a global pandemic, we still had multiple committees putting on events,” Wager said. “I have shown that I can get people excited and to listen and that I can bring out the best in people.”

For Wagner, running the entire Student Government is the next step to running committees. “I have energy and enthusiasm, but I also have the knowledge to back it up,” Wagner said. “I’m best equipped to run the Cabinet and an effective Student Government.”

According to Wagner, voters will be balancing numerous qualities when they decide for whom to vote. “They have to think, who will be the most effective, the most engaging, who students will enjoy listening to, who is approachable, who wants to make a change, who will get that freshman to feel comfortable,” Wagner said. “I check off all these boxes.”