Creating change

Students take on leadership roles as new semester continues

Student council, also known as student government, is an organization that represents the student body and makes divisions on their behalf.

Student council provides students the chance to have a meaningful voice in the many aspects of school life. They work closely with school administration to share students’ ideas and concerns.

It is also a great opportunity for students to gain experience and develop leadership skills. It can boost confidence and instill good citizenship.

Rachael Bonnar is a grade 12 student at Memorial and is currently serving as co-president. Bonnar says she enjoys being on council and helping to make a difference.

“A big reason why joining student council was important to me was to help make a change for the better within our school. As a student council, we act as the students’ voice in the school, which is something that means a lot to me.”

There are several positions available to students, including co-presidents, secretary, M-Crew co-chairs, decorating committee, activities committee and grade-level representative.

For most of these positions, students are only required to submit an application, however, students who wish to become a co-president must be elected by the student body. Each year, there is an election campaign where candidates lay out their plan and make various promises. So far, those promises seem to have been kept.

For one thing, student council has organized Memorial’s first semi-formal dance in recent years; something the other Cape Breton high schools had already been doing. To go along with this, they’ve organized a dress drive to collect donated dresses to help out any student in need.

A second promise kept is the yearbook. Students at Memorial have been talking about getting a yearbook for the past few years. Now, student council is in the process of making one

after getting a count of how many students would be interested. They plan to make a yearbook committee to help design it.

“We always take our peers’ concerns and ideas for activities to our administration and teachers for them.” said Bonnar. “High school should be fun and we as a student council try to make it just that.”

Student council also raises funds for the school. They’ve organized a matchmaker questionnaire which students filled out during class. If students want to see who they’ve matched with, they have to pay $3. This is just one of the many creative fundraisers that student council has done.

Student council also organizes numerous in-school activities such as spirit weeks. This means making posters, creating theme days, organizing games, and getting guest speakers for the school such as a hypnotist.

On an unrelated note, the Interact Club recently sold tickets for a Valentine’s Day basket filled with donations from local businesses. The winner of this draw was Lauren Murphy. The proceeds go to the palliative care unit at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital as well as Lumos (an international charity).

The following are some important dates and events for the next month:

• Semi-formal will be held on February

21.

• The dress drive started on February 12 and is available to any student in need.

• The Interact and WE Schools clubs are organizing a food drive for a local food bank. Any donations are appreciated and the A-block class with the most items will win a pizza party.

• The deadline to register for the Cape Breton Regional Science Fair is March 7th.