According to dictionary.com, student council is a representative body composed chiefly of students chosen by their classmates to organize social and extracurricular activities and to participate in the government of a school or college. The student council here at Panther Creek is divided by class and has a student body division as well. For these members, student council is “giving a voice to the students of the school… [we] present our ideas in ways to our advisors and the administrators to make sure that the interests of the students are being represented here at the school…”

PCNN interviewed the senior council in comparison to the freshmen council to see if they do their jobs differently and if they put in the same amount of participation. According to Cole Johnson, senior class president, when comparing the two councils, “seniors are way more relaxed and the freshmen are more nervous – anxious.” Cole has been a part of student council since his freshmen year and also says that the freshmen who are a part of student council mainly observe and learn how things go. Sona Patel, senior class vice president, also agrees and said that “because the freshmen elections happen during the school year, they miss out on a lot of opportunities that the rest of the council gets to do, so it’s more of a learning experience for them.”

PCNN also interviewed the freshmen council to see if they feel they are participating as well as if they plan on continuing, and if so, what do they want to plan for their class and the school. For the most part, they feel as if they are equally as active as other members, but in some cases they get last pick. According to freshmen class president, Claire Brown, she feels that they have “an equal amount of work but the senior class gives us an example to follow [because they have been doing this longer.]” Even though they participate, they don’t always get to do exactly what they want to do and they miss out on certain opportunities. Freshmen class vice president, Ria Wadhavkar, said, “[the senior class] decided the creek week [days] beforehand, since we had been elected during the beginning of the school year, we were not part of that specific experience.”

Student council, although divided up into sections according to grade in addition to a student body section, is more of a group effort. As Cara McMahon said, “class representatives don’t have a specific job just as freshmen council don’t, but thanks to Rachel everyone is able to get involved and participate.” Class representative for the freshmen class, Isabelle Hamm, said “we get to participate as much, because we’re as important as everyone else.” It’s evident through student council that we run as a team, and always will.

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Ryan Cogburn

Interviews with Ria Wadhavkar