w  rd 2 the woss

Through the Door of the Mysterious StudGov Room - An Interview with Student Council 

April 12th 2016 - Jiyu Nam

If in elementary school there was the teacher's lounge, it seems as though in high school, the place of great wonder and mystery is the student council room. As the center of school activities and fundraisers, the student council is constantly surrounded by rumours and questions by the student body.

Amongst the numerous interesting questions that circulate, such as, "Is it true that prom will be in a barn this year?" (No it isn't) and "Can you put air fresheners in the washrooms?" (That is not within the jurisdiction of the student council), a common theme that seemed to arise was the question, "What exactly is student council, and what have they/are they doing?"

To be honest, I shared this same sentiment prior to joining in on one of their Friday meetings. It seemed to me that there was almost a wall between the student council and the student body, and I was not very aware of what they have done for the school or what they were planning on doing. But perhaps the most concerning, was that I felt intimidated and scared to go and find out.

However, once I was cozily seated on a chair in the corner of the some-what cramped room for the meeting, it was immediately clear to me that student council was not the stuffy meetings that I envisioned, but a rather relaxed yet efficient means of going through the tasks at hand.

So what are these "tasks" you may ask? The student council as of recently, have been hard at work with organising many events, such as the Inside Ride (April 27th -- mark your calendars!), the Sears Festival (the Seussification of Romeo and Juliet) as well as the Spirit Weeks. As Selina Cai (Grad Rep) put it, it is "Not all fun and games -- We work really hard for the events, and to make it happen. But the student body needs to meet us halfway". That means participating in the events, volunteering and bringing in suggestions and ideas for the student council.

When asked about how these ideas and suggestions could be brought to the student council, immediately, the room began brainstorming and discussing different ideas, from increased levels of communication on the Facebook White Oaks Events page, posting minutes of the meetings on a bulletin board or the door of the student council room, or sending mass emails to the White Oaks student. The role of the grade representatives as the connecting link between the council and the student body was also emphasized, so to facilitate this link for us, the students, I have listed below the student reps for each grade if anyone wishes to come in contact with the student council (highly recommended if you have any concerns or great ideas!).

From this experience, which was at first intimidating but in the end, very eye-opening, I was thoroughly convinced that many of the misconceptions on the student council was quite uncalled for. Although it may seem to the general student body that the accomplishments of the student council is minimal, it is clear that the student council is rather a silent giant, holding up and putting together all of the events that WOSS enjoys throughout the year. Because after all, as Tanuj Datta (PM) says, "I think people understand the role that student council plays, but not what the individual's role. But it doesn't matter what the individual role is, because we work as a group, and not as individuals."

Grade 9 Reps: Tom Ho and Yamini Belmonn

Grade 10 Reps: Abi  Sudharshan, Melinda Li and Vaughn Whittle

Grade 11 Reps: Arnav Gill and Mena Fouda

Grade 12 Reps: Kyle Collins and Mila Urosevic