BEHIND THE SCENES: HOW THE STUDENT COUNCIL WORKS

Lining up at the Black Box Theater, I was waiting for my turn at the Haunted House, jumping up and down. Akshay, my friend, stood right next to me, asking if we could go together. It had been 15 minutes already since we arrived, yet it still wasn’t our turn. I sighed. “When will they ever let us in?” I thought to myself. It took another 15 minutes of endless chatting until finally the teachers announced, “Akshay and Jack, you can go in!”

We then ran in. At first it was a clear, twisting path with some Halloween objects, but suddenly a weird voice shouted, “BOO!” I was calm, and quickly recognized it as a Student Council member. Next, there were more winding paths, then someone that clearly was a friend of mine had screamed BOO right in front of us. “Nandhika…” both of us sighed. “Well, I am meant to do this,” Nandhika replied. She continued to block both of us and repeatedly screamed BOO. Akshay then decided to shove her to the side. There was a wall in front of us, but I had quickly noticed a small hole. “Are we meant to CRAWL here!?” I asked. Akshay answered, “Well, I don’t know, but let’s try.” Akshay went through first, then I suddenly doubted myself. “Am I too big for this? On second thought, I think I can do it.” I then slowly crawled through the hole, realizing that it was much bigger than my original thoughts, although I was just small enough to fit through. After the tunnel, we were out. “Whew! That was fun!” I concluded.

The Halloween Haunted House is a perfect example of a Student Council event. Every year, the Student Council hosts numerous events, such as the Spring Fling and Lip Sync Battle. Besides these, they also manage finances and student funds. Every Tuesday morning, the Student Council has a meeting about what they plan to do, each week alternating the location between the Grove and the Garden. In every meeting, the council members talk about event hosting and financial plans.

Events are planned taking into consideration many different factors, such as time, cost, popularity, and grade level. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID has been counted as a factor as well. It starts when a council member suggests an idea, then the whole council decides on if it will be implemented depending on the factors. If the event was agreed on, the council would then find resources and money to start making the event.

The student council’s financial expenses are tracked on a Google Sheet due to the council not having a bank account. Funds are raised on every event to gather money for the Student Council. For example, the Haunted House had raised over 5,000 HKD for the Student Council to use for resources and prizes. Money that the council owns but is not used is transferred to the next school year’s council to use.

Every start of a school year, students who wish to run for Student Council start a campaign. They create a speech which is reviewed by Mrs. Mierczak, and also create posters to put up around the school. On Election Day, each student comes up to the stage to say their speech, then students vote for the student runners that they wish to be part of the Student Council. JG1 can vote for President; G1-6 can vote for Primary Representative and all High School runners; G7-8 can vote for Middle School Representative and all High School runners; High School can vote for everything.

After doing interviews with various members of the Student Council, I wanted to know what the whole school thought about the Student Council and events they organized. There were 51 responses to the survey from Grades 1 to 8. Thirty-three percent were satisfied with the Student Council performance this year, while 67 percent felt that there were areas that needed improvement.

In terms of events, 27 percent of students enjoyed the Haunted House, while 12 percent of students enjoyed Pajama Day. Students liked the ice cream truck and mystery bags as well. Twelve percent of students liked the Spring Fling too. Students appreciated that the Student Council organized these events, including Active Kindess Day. One noted that the council helped them with their Future of Education conference as well.

Respondents suggest that in the future there could be more VC@T-friendly activities organized by the student council, because due to Covid-19, some of the events that were planned had to be canceled. Some suggest more interaction with students, or a survey of additional activities the council can plan for the upcoming school year. Another suggested area of improvement is better WiFi.

To conclude, the Student Council is a student-led organization responsible for addressing concerns, organizing events and planning activities to improve students' overall experience in the school. The student council has to do many things, including preparing and gathering resources, finding sources for funding, and more. It's a big responsibility to be part of the student council, and their work is appreciated by the THS community. This year,