The LFHS Student Council consistently grows in both size and impact every year, bringing in both freshman and new members from all grades. In the past, Student Council has depended on the Student Body President, Vice President, and Class Leadership to tackle the new year, but this year they implemented a new twist.
Student Council has now created a student executive board, composed of five seniors from the Class of 2025. The executive board is designed to not only assist in overall leadership, but also specialize and take charge of their own “areas of expertise”.
“[Class of 2025] is a strong leadership class and that became evident during Student Body and Senior Class elections last spring that were very competitive,” Student Council Advisor Mrs. Konz said. “I felt that because of so much interest in leadership roles, it was necessary to provide more opportunities for our seniors to step up and share their own ideas.”
Special Events Chairs Matthew Chabraja and Clara Collis, Communications Chair Grace Donovan, Philanthropy Chair Maeve Farrell, and Logistics Chair Joe Remus each now lead a specific committee within Student Council, which has never been done before.
As Special Event Chairs, Chabraja and Collis oversee the main events that Student Council organizes that go beyond school dances, such as winter spirit weeks and the Halloween Room Decorating Contest.
Spearheading the Communications aspect, Donovan works to spread the word about Student Council events and ways to participate within the school through Instagram and fliers throughout the halls.
Philanthropy now holds a major role in Student Council’s work as Farrell and her committee plan a variety of ways to give back to the community and those less fortunate.
“Last year the Junior Class started the Cereal Box Challenge which was a huge success and we were able to help a lot of people,” Farrell said. “We are planning on having each grade do their own event that gives back as well as more for the entire Student Council.”
Each grade’s adult advisor along with their President and Vice President have been working hard to expand Student Council to be seen as more than just ‘party planners’.
“Even though a big part of what we do is making Homecoming or Prom special, expanding our outreach in the community is a main priority which is where our new Exec Board and Maeve comes in,” Konz said.
Remus, acting as Logistics Chair, now oversees the biggest change created by the new executive board.
“My role as Logistics Chair is to make sure members are involved in more than just showing up to morning meetings,” Remus said. “We have created a spreadsheet and other ways to keep track of participation and increase Student Council’s work at planned events in general.”
While Student Council’s main form of participation is weekly Tuesday morning meetings, the variety of other events such as working with Little Scouts or handing out hot cocoa on cold winter mornings require many hands.
“Having an exec board spreads out responsibilities instead of depending on the same few people. There are more seniors to model what to do and for underclassmen to look up to,” junior Evelyn Marshall, a member of Student Council since freshman year, said. “Last year, we sometimes struggled with attendance outside of morning meetings, so hopefully having a Logistics Chair will help to get everyone more involved.”
Student Council attempted to get a Senior Executive Board off the ground in the 2023-2024 school year, but struggled with assigning responsibilities since there were no formal positions or committees. By delegating leadership to more seniors with specified tasks, Student Council will now aim to spread their focus to all aspects of LFHS.
“Having more minds focused on improving LFHS at once is a key factor in how our school becomes better every day,” Student Body President Kat Yakes said. “This especially comes into play with this year’s new and improved Student Council Executive Chairs and I am so excited to have the help and to see what they accomplish.”
