Student Council Plans for the School Year
By Laura Galbes
Edited by Sterre Schlosser
This year has started off strong, as students are already seeing the changes our new Student Council has made. For instance, the installation of hooks in the bathrooms and a coffee machine in George Jr’s have been huge successes. Students are curious about what President Lilly Tanz and Vice-President Shawn Tache, as well as the rest of the Student Council, have planned for Halloween and the rest of the school year. Last week we spoke with Lilly and Shawn to get some insight on their exciting plans going forward.
What events and activities do you have planned for Halloween this year?
First week back from break we are planning spirit days again.
Monday is blackout, Tuesday is twin, Wednesday is PJs, Thursday is halloween costumes and Friday is sports jerseys/ ISA spirit.
On Thursday, the 31st of October, to celebrate Halloween, we will be having a Halloween assembly which will include costume competitions for both group and individual costumes. We encourage students to dress up to win a prize! The afternoon on Friday, for sport jersey and ISA spirit day, we have all decided to go support the JV and Varsity volleyball and football teams in their competitions.
What are things you are trying to change, or do differently from last year?
Starting with the Spirit Days, we wanted to choose themes where we thought students would find fun and get involved. We noticed in the past there were some days where everyone would dress up, and other days where no one would, so we want everyone to be involved this year.
In general, we are also trying to get through with small things hearing from students' requests. Now that we have new Grade Level Reps we can get everyone's opinions, for example someone wanted to talk to facilities about fixing the sinks in the bathrooms, and others wanted to talk about the transition from 10th grade to 11th grade.
To bring more school spirit the Student Council is also planning the Student Vs. Teacher volleyball game on Friday. We are also trying to set something up for football.
Where can students find information about future plans you have for the school year?
Definitely the Instagram (@isa_stuco). We’ve been trying to update it to show everything we’ve been working on like showing the hooks placed in the bathrooms, and showing where we can get coffee in George Junior’s, which was a student and teacher request. On the instagram we’re trying to be transparent, and keep everyone posted as we’re working on things.
How do you plan on gathering feedback for all the planned events ?
That’s definitely where we think Grade Level Reps are key, who will gather feedback and listen to the voice of specific grades. We want to have the representatives be interacting with everyone in their grades, finding out what people want to see more of and what they would want to see less of.
So far, what has been the most challenging part of setting up all the events?
For Halloween I think there are a lot of moving pieces we’re trying to put together. We have the Spirit Week, a tournament, and an assembly in one week so we really have all hands on deck. All of our representatives, all of our officers are doing something, everyone has their responsibility and I think we’ve been working really well together especially as this is our first big project together as the new student council.
Are there any other plans you want to share?
We think it’s important to acknowledge that we’ve encountered some setbacks in the assessment agreements. We’ve been struggling with clarifying it with teachers and having it go through all the stages of approval but we are working hard on it and hopefully it will be cleared soon.
We’ve also been working with the architectural team to talk about visual and aesthetic improvements we can be making at ISA and we’ll continue to be working with them the week we come back from break. We’re excited to be able to implement student feedback, and improve student experience and the environment we’re surrounded by even if it is a long term plan.
This interview with our high school President and Vice-President highlights the hard work of all student council members on planning school events for all students to enjoy. At The Voice, we look forward to following the Student Council’s work during the rest of the year!
