ACOMMENTFROMTHEVICE-PRESIDENTOF THEHIGHSCHOOLSTUDENTCOUNCIL:

By Liam Barbieri '25

As this year’s Vice President of the High School Student Council, I have a few comments I would like to make, regarding the past, present, and future of the Student Council:

The Student Council is the voice of the student body, and represents the student body when discussing future school events and policies. This year, we have succeeded in organizing a High School Dance, Football Tournament, fundraisers, helped push for the Grade 10 Spain/France Trips, and the Grade 10 IB informative sessions However, this representative body is lackluster compared to what it could truly accomplish The first of various problems regarding the Student Council is CAS. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the Student Council being a CAS experience, as I’ll be able to make use of that next year Although, it spurs uninspired students to join the Council, thus, causing most meetings to be led by the same select few, with various students rarely, if ever, speaking. Hence, the Student Council needs specifically more Grade 9 and 10 members, which would not only have more time to dedicate to the Student Council, but would also understand the role of the representative body to a much greater extent by the time they occupy the executive positions of the council.

Leading us to another aspect to be fixed regarding the council: this year, the council has had four Grade 10 members, all of which demonstrated clear determination, and a single Grade 9 member. The latter, although being a fantastically equipped member, isn’t an adequate representative for the entire grade, as they cannot account for the desires and needs of the large quantity of Grade 9 students This is not a personal stab at that specific grade - even though it has frequently been noticed by the Student Council to be the grade with the least community involvement and participation; I believe it necessary that the Student Council focus its attention to scouting out more younger members, which would leave the student body in good hands once the older students graduate. How this will be done is still being discussed between the executive members of the council, including the opinion of our supervisor, Ms Angeletti

As my term as Vice-President is coming to an end, I also plan on continuing my career by running for President next year, I hope to shed a little bit of light on what I want to accomplish next year: Working in collaboration with FloMUN2024, revising the school’s food policies, creating custom sport team jerseys, organizing more sports events for students, and connecting our school with international academic competitions.

On another note, elections for the various positions (President, Vice-President, Social Media Manager, Secretary, and Treasurer) will all be held at the end of September, and I hope to see some new young proactive individuals who want to advocate and lead their peers!

- Liam Barbieri, Vice-President of the HS Student Council