Connecting the Dots: An Interview with ASB President Nathan Mizell
Let’s not sugarcoat it--ASB can be confusing. With all the forms and daunting due dates, it’s easy to villainize the ASB staff. Timberwolves are often skeptical of ASB’s handling of money, most of which comes from the wallets of students and their families.
‘“I understand,” notes ASB President, Nathan Mizell. “If you’re not aware of it and you don’t have the numbers in front of you, it may seem like things are ‘closed-door’ or that we have something to hide.”
This is Mizell’s fourth consecutive year in the ASB program, and his decisions have been pivotal--especially when it comes to the organization’s connection with students. Just this year, Mizell and his colleagues launched a school-wide senate, where Mizell says students will have “a platform to voice their issues, concerns, and preferences to a wider audience.”
Mizell and the student body have made transparency and collaboration with students a top priority. With the first edition of The Howl released, ASB has incorporated a detailed chart of their spending practices. The thing that students may notice, however, is a $8,800 gap surplus between ASB income and expenditures.
Although alarming, Mizell assures students that the spending gap is warranted. Mizell explains, “I’m hoping with this article, we can show students that may be skeptical that we are trying to do the best thing by them and that we have their best interests at heart.”
How can you explain the differences between the income and expenses in the ASB spending report?
“There’s a lot of expenditures and income sources that people are not aware of in ASB,” acknowledges Mizell. ASB doesn’t just manage school dances, senior events, and clubs. Although these aspects are a lot to handle, the duties of the student body entail much more.
“There are things we oversee that are unique to ASB,” he comments, “A big expense for instance would be referees.”
With a classic example of ASB expense and income, Mizell explains, “Let’s say 50 people go to a basketball game and buy tickets. We get that income. But on the other side of the coin, we have to pay for any home referees. So we’re probably paying 70 to 80 dollars per referee.”
Unlike other high schools, MVHS is missing a large opportunity for income, which may “help offset the fees for refs, among other things” says Mizell. He acknowledges that without a football team, which for most schools, makes an income of over $100,000 each year, there are many “binding expenses for ASB.”
“We want students to go to the games, so we’re not going to start charging 5, 10 dollars at games if we don’t have to. We just want students there, cheering on our school” he says.
Mizell assures students, “We try our hardest to cancel out the expense so we can stay even.” But without a large sport that many schools use as steady income, ASB must find other ways of putting their money to use. One of these ways is the annual reserve.
Does ASB plan a reserve every year?
“Yes!” Mizell promises. “A reserve is a fund of money that is virtually never touched and is only used for loans and events that might go terribly wrong.”
At the moment, readers of The Howl’s first edition will see that there’s about $8,800 that isn’t accounted for specifically. This surplus gap between income and expenditure is thanks to the reserve, which is vital to ASB’s spending routine.
The money in the reserve is used in two situations. The first situation that depends on a reserve is loaning. If a class body (the junior or senior class, for example) is unable to pay for an event, they seek the necessary funds from the reserve. After the event, the money they make is paid back in full.
“This week we are doing a $15,000 loan to the junior class for the prom venue deposit and DJ,” says Mizell. “The thing is they don’t have the money to pay for these expenses. So that’s part of the reserve. As ASB executives, we can approve that “loan” (it’s called a journal) of $15,000.”
Mizell notes, “After the junior class gets the money, they’ll pay it back”
It’s not just prom that relies on the reserve funds. “Yearbook, dances, sports, gradnite, and even the future alma matter--certain things of that nature,” explains Mizell, “We have to have money to loan to certain organizations so that events can happen.”
The second use of reserve money is for damage control. If ASB hosts an event and no income is produced, they seek reserve funds to pay the debt.
“Let’s say no one shows up to prom and we lose $35,000," says Mizell, hypothetically.
“If we’re not prepared to pay that back, basically ASB goes bankrupt, all the clubs have nothing.”
He assures students, “We do NOT want that to happen. So basically, this reserve prevents anything like that.”
But at the end of the year, where does the leftover income go?
“Let’s say we have an income of $9,000 at the end of the year,” explains Mizell. “There are a couple things that can happen with that money. First of all, it can be allocated down to other classes in ASB.” For example, the money could be allocated to the Freshman class of 2022. This measure would ensure that the class doesn’t begin the new school year at near “bankruptcy.”
But mostly, ASB saves the money in the reserve. “And this money always stays there as a back-up,” adds Mizell.
How do class accounts work?
ASB oversees class accounts (the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes) and treats each as its own entity. Each has a separate set of funds that are used for specific school events. Each class may seek money from the reserve if need be.
“There’s ASB--the overarching organization,” Mizell maps out. “But within ASB there are classes. Each of those are their own club within ASB” Any profits made from an event are kept within the account of the class that hosts it. And the accounts don’t just disappear as summer comes around. They follow the classes as they progress to the next school year.
“So let’s say the juniors make $10,000 off of prom,” says Mizell hypothetically. “That money will travel with them as the become seniors so that they can reinvent events or lower ticket prices in the future.”
What would you like people to understand about ASB spending?
“We always keep the students’ interest at mind,” promises Mizell. “At the end of the day we are students. This is an organization built by students for students to govern the use of their money.” Even the budget, he says, is “made and approved by students.”
With the skeptical attitude toward ASB, Mizell would like to reassure students that “there’s no backdoor money, nothing crazy going on," adding “It’s your money, and we want to do the best thing with it.” That being said, Mizell notes that “there are things we have to charge and pay for. I can understand that there are things students may or may not like, but it’s necessary in keeping our school afloat.”
As ASB president, what is your biggest goal?
“For me, the biggest thing is that I wanted to create a platform for students to voice their issues and concerns to a wider audience” Mizell explains.
In the past years, Mizell has been somewhat unsatisfied with the privacy of administrator meetings. “I have these conferences with me and one or two people that are already in ASB” he acknowledges, “It’s a small group. 35 people in a classroom can’t represent every student” states Mizell, "I want to do my best to get a wide consensus of what Timberwolves want on our campus.”
Mizell continually challenges ASB routine, and strives for a strong connection between the organization and its most valuable critics--the students. “If we can have that open conversation, it makes it so much easier for ASB to work with other students,” says Mizell hopefully. “ We can all work together to make this campus as great as it can be.”