Fermi Boonstra, all-school president

What are some things that you’ve accomplished in your Student Council career that you are proud of?

“I led this bill called the Temperature Check Bill. And it was initially about getting faculty to send out a survey to their students in the middle of the year to see how everyone was doing, and from there, adjust their courses or adjust their workload. And basically, what happened was, I was told that you can’t make teachers put out that forum, but you can highly encourage it. And so I talked at a faculty meeting and proposed giving those temperature checks, hence the name. And I think a lot of teachers took it to heart. And I heard a lot about how teachers were doing it […] Some of them didn’t, but it mattered to me that at least some teachers were doing it and some students were getting that say in their course.”

What kind of a Student Council do you hope to lead?

“I really want to have a good relationship with the student body, which I know has been a struggle in the past, because a lot of people see Student Council as this, like, high-off place where we’re untouchable and maybe like, we’re not so in tune with what’s happening in the school and we never get anything done. But I think if people are more aware of what we’re doing, then they’ll see that no, we can actually do things. We can help little things. We can’t get teachers to not give us homework, but we can make little initiatives that make everyday life a little bit easier.”

What are some lessons you’ve picked up during your time on student council that you plan to make use of next year?

“There are things that a leader can do to make a community feel more bonded. I think, as a leader, it’s important to be an example for students. No one is going to want to dress up for spirit week if their own class president isn’t going crazy for it. As a leader, you learn to like what people see and what they receive from your actions. Through my years, I’ve figured out what is good and what’s bad.”

What are some of your initial goals for the next year?

“I was actually just talking to Ms. Campos about getting the five mental health days separated from the absence cap we can have per semester. So right now, you can have seven absences per semester before you have to have a conversation with the dean and your parents. And no one wants that. […] So for example, field trips don’t count toward the absences you can have per semester, but sick days do. And so what I want is to get a set aside amount of days for mental health, being put into that column of days that don’t count for the absences.”