All-School Cultural Union President

Noor Asad, Class of 2021

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

Through my three years of being my grade’s Cultural Union officer, I’ve come to understand how Student Council works and all the logistics of planning events to bring the community together. I’d like to apply this to creating new opportunities for showing school spirit to foster a sense of community such as year-long competitions between grades for prizes, like spirit wear. I’d also love to bring back spring formal! My main goal is to build a strong sense of community within Lab in order to bring everyone closer together and make high school a positive experience for everyone.  

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

I will help encourage an atmosphere of cooperation between students and faculty by listening to students’ needs first and foremost. In engaging in dialogue with the student body about their concerns, I can act as a voice for students and as a bridge between students and faculty. As a member of Student Council, I have more opportunities to communicate with faculty members, and the ability to facilitate meetings with them. I believe that in order to ensure change in our community, there must be efforts made in both the faculty and students. I will take advantage of my role as a Student Council representative and make sure I incorporate the information and introduce the ideas conveyed to me.

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

As all-school CU president, I want to combine my knowledge of student council with what I’ve learned through my two years as a Peer Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity Facilitator. With some of the struggles we’ve faced as a community this year, I think it’s extremely important we focus on encouraging a culture of inclusivity, where we are not only relying on reactionary measures after the fact but preventative measures to ensure that people do not have to experience acts of hostility in the first place. I plan to work to make sure that school is an environment that is flexible and open to supporting all students’ needs by incorporating more dialogue through enjoyable school events and other forums for discussion as well.  

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

High school is a stressful time for all students, and as all-school CU president, I want to work towards ameliorating that stress. I see dances, spirit assemblies, and school wide events as ways for everyone to feel a part of a larger community, which will encourage people to be more open and communicative about struggles and also increase empathy between all groups of students. The U-High community has experienced a lot of challenges in supporting everyone from a mental health standpoint and creating a better sense of community would initiate a domino effect where people are comfortable enough with each other to make the changes we all want to see happen. 

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

I would like to increase the student body’s engagement by ensuring that students are included in decisions about activities and events to be held, and everyone is given the opportunity to provide feedback following these events. If they are able to help choose for themselves, they will be more likely to attend and boost turnout. If the Student Council plans events catered to the student body’s ideas and feedback, then I think we’ll have a lot more people joining school activities and events!