Student council serves as a platform for students to voice their opinions, make positive changes, and contribute to the overall well-being of our school. According to members of student council, it encourages teamwork, helps students learn leadership skills, and takes charge of school activities and events.
Senior student council President Sofia Francis believes that student council is an activity that appeals to specific types of people due to the planning and organization skills it requires. Additionally, Francis finds that confidence is crucial when leading as president, but it’s also important to recognize herself as a normal person while being assertive.
“I try hard to walk the line between assertive and understanding,” Francis said. “People will respond to me the way I address them. Besides that, I find that having thick skin is pretty helpful as Student Council President. People often criticize our projects as if there weren’t real students behind them, or blame us for things far out of our control. It’s tempting to just be rude in response, but it helps nothing, so I just have to suck it up.”
Similarly to how Francis believes the ability to stay organized and be confident in her decisions is an important skill, Isabel Liu, the sophomore student council president, also feels that her organization skills are what make her a good president. Liu believes that student council is a group effort and is about learning how to lead and make decisions together.
“LASA student council positions all kind of do the same thing,” Liu said. “It’s all a group effort. It just differentiates between the different grade levels. The seniors typically do more than the freshmen…high school is the time to build up your resume and learn new skills and student council is the perfect chance to do those.”
Among other responsibilities like communicating with the administration and organizing fundraisers, student council is in charge of running school activities and events like homecoming and prom. According to Francis, for these events to succeed, task designation and flexibility is a crucial skill for the students to learn, especially for group tasks such as elections and meeting plans that transcend their specific roles.
“For the most part, in student council, the role titles don’t matter too much,” Francis said. “Except for the treasurer, who will always be in charge of sales analysis in senior year, the president is in charge of quite literally everything. Like running our weekly meetings, having an agenda drawn up, and assigning our multiple tasks to different members.”
The freshman vice-president, Camille Schuppe, believes in the importance of LASA student council and its role in decision-making, organizing events, and speaking for the entire student body. What drew Schuppe to the role in the first place was the chance to improve her leadership abilities. She has learned to appreciate the challenges that come with her role.
“I thought that it would be fun and a good way to meet new people and learn leadership skills,” Schuppe said. “I think it’s a great way to connect with other people and it’s challenging in a very fun way… I’ve really gotten closer to other people and I love being able to plan events. It’s stressful but all worth it in the end.”
