Increased awareness of my own strengths: Service and Creativity (Student Council)

I have had a very busy year so far with student council. I began 2013 forwarding one of my election goals, putting more emphasis on the house system. After a series of meetings with both Ms. Butterworth and Mr. Findlay we put out a campaign to find independent, dedicated and professional members of the student body to run for the position, head of house. This we decided was the quickest way of getting more done with the house system. With students in charge we hope change will soon be on its way for the house system. We went through a 2-step process to find the best candidates for head of house. Interested parties first had to write an essay on why they believe they should be a House Captain, what leadership attributes they believe they have and what changes they would like to see. Secondly we went through a interview with each candidate to follow up. It was a very time consuming and stressful process. Trying to organise for everyone to be at the right meeting, at the right location and the right time took many emails and many more personal reminders. However in the end we choose 4 people for the positions and so far I am exceedingly pleased with the choice.

The next step I decided we needed to take after appointing people to the roles was to introduce them to the student body. I think when through a long process of trying to put on an assembly. Eventually I found a date and a time that worked. It was a very successful assembly I believe. The sports leaders made a good impression, my speech was clear and loud and we even managed to fit in some student musical performances, which was very nice.

Although student council has been going well it has been a very time consuming job. The next task I got onto was organizing two dances for the middle school. Firstly a spring fling for the 6^th and 7^th grades and then a disco for the 8^th grade.

At our weekly meeting we picked a date and got organizing however some of the grade representative got mixed up with some of the dates and we ended up having to chance the first arranged date due to lack of preparations.

It was second time lucky I believe. Much smoother and much more efficiently I spent a lot of time preparing, emailing and discussing the dance. Luckily with much effort both went to plan, the spring fling taking place on the 12^th of April and the disco on the following Friday the 19^th of April.

My final challenge of Student council precedency took place today when I gave my farewell speech to the student body:

It seems like a long time ago since I was up here last year asking you along with Alex for your votes. I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent all of you this past year. Because of course without you voting I wouldn’t be standing up here. I speak on the behalf of both Alex and I when I say it has been an honour to represent the student body throughout our presidency.

This time last year I must admit I felt wary of the task ahead of me hoping I could fulfil everything Alex and I promised to you. Over the course of the year I am pleased to say we got many more of you involved in the student council through the events, sports and tech committees. We proposed a formal budget be put in place for the student council and with much help from our treasurer Diederik we have been granted exactly that.

Alex and I have tried to put more emphasis on the house system. Although this process has been slower than we hoped we believe we have secured you a future with more focus on the house system by interviewing and choosing grade 11 students for the head of house positions.

I would like to thank both Sarah our secretary and Diederik our treasurer as well as our student council grade representatives for their help over the past year especially in organizing the many dances we put on.

Something I have learnt from the student council is that it is just as important to have dedicated grade representatives, as it is to have a dedicated executive committee.

Many of you sitting in front on me now may not see the importance of the student council, you may not see our work and what we achieve, much of it is happens in lunchtime meetings, lengthy emails and  executive discussions. I am highly subjective of course but I believe there is a great importance to the student council. Our elections at ICS are truly democratic. Being part of the student council teaches life skills such as public speaking, organization, leadership and teamwork. I hope as you listen to the speeches today you take into consideration the importance of the student council and it’s role at ICS.

Finally I would like to thank you the student body as well as Ms. Butterworth, Ms. Cambell, Mr Findlay, Mr Mcharg and all the many other teachers who have helped us achieve what we have during our presidency.