The student council has been at GHS for an estimated 53 years. It usually has five to six elected representatives from each grade. This year, student council sponsor Mrs. Anita O’Neill allowed anyone who was interested to join.
“I opened up the student council to whoever wanted to join,” Mrs. O’Neill said. “I also looked back at the previous three years of people who put their name on the ballot. I asked them individually if they would consider being on the student council. This year we have 30 kids on the student council and I think those kids who were invited have enjoyed the membership.”
The student council is in charge of planning events such as homecoming, the Blood Drive in January, and the food drive in November and participated in Penny Wars. They also recycle every Thursday morning for teachers and admins.
We go around and recycle every Thursday morning,” senior Sarah Turpen said. “We simply take the boxes of recycling that are in the teacher’s classrooms and put them into recycling bins. We also do a canned food drive every year, where we collect food and other items for the Gretna Neighbors food pantry. We also help with parent-teacher conferences in a non-COVID year and pass out cookies and drinks.”
The general understanding of the Student Council is that it’s supposed to be a bridge between the admin and the student body. That’s how it is at many schools and what it is described as in the dictionary. But, GHS has a bridge that struggles with what the students want and what the administrators want.
“The administration vetoes a lot of our ideas,” senior Liliana Kinnan said. “so it is discouraging to come up with more things to do. Especially since class competitions were banned and this year especially with the lack of events.”
Due to the circumstances of 2020, events the student council wanted to participate in have been vetoed, for COVID-19 safety reasons or because of school guidelines. From the student council’s perspective, it creates limitations as to what they can do, but for the administration, it is for the health and safety of the students.
“Trust me, the council members want this, too, but there are several limitations at meetings,” junior Charles Sams said. “We’re not really able to do much unless we get it passed by the administration, which takes months of convincing and planning. I would like it if the council could enact new rules and plans without so much supervision from the administration.”
The majority of GHS students who took the survey agreed they would prefer a change in the student council. When provided changes they would like to be made to the student council, many said to lessen the restrictions for the student council and allow them to be more involved in the school’s decisions.
“I think they should do more and I’m not personally attacking anyone but what’s the purpose of the student council especially in the year 2020,” senior Macie Nichols said. “We shouldn’t have even voted because they do not participate in anything.”
The student council participates in many events for the student body. But, the majority of students want them to become more involved in the decisions making process