All-School Secretary

William Greenstone, Class of 2021

What new ideas would you bring to the table? What is your main goal?

One idea I have is a fundraiser/drive to Chicago organizations helping with COVID-19 aid, such as Meals on Wheels Chicago (delivering food to seniors and people with disabilities) and the Hyde Park/Kenwood food pantry (part of the Greater Chicago Food Depository). I also think partnering with Ray School to help their kids in need of academic help could be a great community idea, and it could extend past the sophomore class’s service learning. My main goal as all-school secretary is to help our Lab and our greater Hyde Park/Chicago community cope with and fight against the effects of COVID-19.

How will you act as a liaison between students and faculty?

I think I have a good relationship with a lot of faculty members, so I feel very comfortable communicating with them. My main goal concerning student-faculty discourse is to make sure that, whether we attend physical school or not in the fall, teachers hear their students’ concerns about workload and stress level, which are more important than ever during this pandemic. I also want to make sure that teachers are not overtaxed by students’ requests. I think with good communication, we can find the right balance of accommodating both groups in an unfamiliar learning environment.

What kind of school culture do you hope to see? How will you work to create it?

I hope to see a culture that comes together to support each other during this difficult time. I also want to make sure that students do not find their lives dominated by the pandemic and can still have fun and connect with their friends. I think if the pandemic is still going strong by the fall, various virtual activities can cultivate school spirit from a distance, including creative ways of holding spirit assemblies and other events without crowds involved. Right now and in the foreseeable future, everyone in the U-High community needs one another.

How will you work to make U-High a stress-free environment?

I will work to make sure that much of the above — student-teacher discourse, school culture — does not make any student’s life more stressful, but reduces stress as much as possible. I think things as simple as the positive messages our Student Council representatives post on Schoology go a long way towards reducing stress. I want to make sure that no one is overwhelmed by a school workload when there are much bigger things in the world to worry about, and I aim to do this by constant and open communication with faculty members and the administration. 

How do you plan to enhance the student body’s engagement in school activities?

I think in the increasingly likely possibility that we do not go back to physical school in the fall, I would suggest virtual activities that most students can participate in, like weekly Kahoots and various game tournaments that can be done online (8-ball, Connect Four, etc.). If we do go back to physical school, I think it is unlikely that large crowds at sport games and other events will be allowed, so I would try to set up viewing parties for those games.

Adrianna Nehme, Class of 2022

What new ideas would you bring to the table? What is your main goal?

My main goal is to better represent my classmates by discussing their ideas and concerns with the rest of Student Council and administration. One idea that I would like to explore further is to figure out what we can do as a school to ease the pain of the communities suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 virus. 

How will you act as a liaison between students and faculty?

Since a goal of mine is to better represent the rest of my classmates, I think continuing with weekly surveys is important, even after we finish remote learning. Therefore, by doing this, faculty will be able to get a better sense of how students are adjusting to the class they are in as well as the workload in that class. During weekly meetings, we can discuss these surveys further and figure out how to approach the students’ responses. 

What kind of school culture do you hope to see? How will you work to create it?

I hope to see students walk into their classes every day with a smile on their face, excited to learn, as well as teachers, starting each of their classes with enthusiasm. I will work to create this positive school culture by continuing to establish more events that can occur more often around the school where both students and teachers can participate.

How will you work to make U-High a stress-free environment?

In order to make school a positive environment, I think the first thing that should be done is to continue and build this relationship between the students and teachers. The student should feel comfortable and shouldn’t fear expressing their concerns towards their teacher. I also think we should implement more school events at the end of every couple of weeks where both teachers and students participate. This will allow for the positive school environment to remain while building these connections with the students and teachers. In addition I will work to make sure there are always open channels of communications between the students and teachers where the students can express their feelings about the workload and intensity and how it is affecting the quality of their life, and for the teachers to be able to give the students some feedback on how to better cope with the workload and manage their time. 

How do you plan to enhance the student body’s engagement in school activities?

I will try to keep the students up to date on all the activities that are ongoing by sending reminders and posting flyers when those are available. I will also ensure that the Student Council website is always up to date with the available activities so students can access it at any time and possibly sign up on the website to be a part of the activities. 

Andrada Nicolae, Class of 2021

What new ideas would you bring to the table? What is your main goal?

My goals are to progress, promote, and protect the student voice and involvement within Student Council. In order to achieve this, I plan to implement a more consistent practice of communication with the student body. I hope to establish a (brief) monthly newsletter informing the student body about what Student Council is working on, make weekly minutes more detailed and easier to access, and announce the topics of Student Council meetings ahead of time in order to ensure students who are interested in a particular issue are able to share their ideas. 

How will you act as a liaison between students and faculty?

It often seems as though the student body is disconnected from what happens behind the scenes; communication feels rare and unclear. I believe the best way to be a liaison, especially as the all-school secretary, is to create transparency between faculty and students. When something is discussed in Student Council with faculty, I will make sure all students are aware of it. Further, I will make sure to be an advocate for students. Ultimately, all U-High students’ ideas are important and impactful, and I will provide a platform for them to be shared. 

What kind of school culture do you hope to see? How will you work to create it?

I want all U-High students to feel welcome and included in our community and I believe that if people have their voices heard, we can implement change that will allow for this. If I am elected, I promise transparency between Student Council and the student body. I believe that if all students are aware of what is being discussed and are a part of the decision-making progress, we can both improve dialogue between students, teachers and administrators, and make sure all voices are heard. Further, I want to protect spaces for students to share their thoughts or concerns.

How will you work to make U-High a stress-free environment?

Unfortunately, being academically stressed has become part of the culture at U-High. I believe we can combat this if Student Council works with administration and counselors to ensure student’s mental health is supported, as well as with teachers to ensure workloads are appropriate and balanced. Further, as for many students stress at U-High also stems from feeling unsafe or unwelcome, I will work to prevent discriminatory incidents by promoting conversations surrounding DEI, helping our community constantly work to be more inclusive, and ensuring hateful actions are met with appropriate responses. 

How do you plan to enhance the student body’s engagement in school activities?

I believe the best way to enhance engagement in school activities is through Student Council being more accessible. If the student body feels that they have an input in planning school events, not only will we gain new perspectives but we can make sure students are excited about events. Further, as it often seems like school events are not advertised far enough in advance, I plan to maintain a regularly updated – and easily accessible – calendar so that all students know what is happening and when it is happening. 

Peter Stern, Class of 2022

What new ideas would you bring to the table? What is your main goal?

My main goal as your all-school secretary would be to support the will of the student body and to do whatever I can to impact the Lab community for the better. I believe that improved communication, especially during these difficult times, is essential to constantly improving the student experience at Lab. Additionally, by making sure that Student Council’s resources are used to support the will of the student body we can ensure that student events are more accessible and appealing towards all of Lab’s students.

How will you act as a liaison between students and faculty?

To act as a liaison between the student body and the faculty I will work to gain an understanding of what’s best for the student body and then stay strong on what’s important to us as a high school. I think we should establish new channels of communication between the Student Council, the student body, and the faculty using strategies from remote learning. This can be done by completing more surveys for the student body, updating students on Student Council’s progress more often, and coordinating with faculty and other members of the Lab community more often. 

What kind of school culture do you hope to see? How will you work to create it?

I want our school culture to be fun, positive, and supportive. We all know that a Lab can be a pretty stressful environment, but support from our community will make it a lot easier to get through challenging days. To do this, I believe that Student Council should hold a variety of events targeted at bringing us together as a community while reassessing current Student Council events to make them more accessible and appealing. Additionally, I think we should use the competitive nature of the students here to push everyone to do their best. 

How will you work to make U-High a stress-free environment?

I will work to make U-High more of a stress free environment by working through partnerships between school counselors and Student Council. Providing accessible and appealing programs and events to address mental health issues and stress we can teach students to manage their stress more efficiently. This can be done by assessing the student bodies specific stress management and mental health needs and then taking action to fulfill them. Also, by creating optional peer connect and mentoring programs between grades students can connect with students who are going through similar things such as family related issues. 

How do you plan to enhance the student body’s engagement in school activities?

I believe there are three ways for Student Council to improve engagement at events. First, events should be planned to be appealing and easily accessible for students with limited free time and busy schedules. Next, the Student Council should start planning events earlier to allow more advertising so that students know about the event and have time to make room in their schedules. Advertising can also be improved by having advisors tell their students about the events in advisory. Finally, the Student Council should use surveys and the direct student voice when planning events to ensure that they are what the student body wants.