With the Student Council election next week, some officers say their year has not been as effective as they expected, while others say achieving goals is possible with hard work.

Senior Cultural Union representative Nicole Horio publicly stated that Student Council is plagued by a lack of understanding about what officers can accomplish. Nicole is frustrated with lack of power granted by the administration and management of trivial issues.

Nicole has stopped attending Student Council meetings, saying they aren’t a good use of her time. She wants Student Council to have a faster-moving, more public role.

“At the meetings, we discuss the same things week after week, and it seems like nothing gets done,” Nicole said. “It takes an entire year for little things to happen. At the beginning of the year, we were discussing bathroom stall doors and the gym lockers, and now the bleachers just got fixed and a lot of bathroom stalls still don’t work.”

According to Nicole, others like the Principal’s Advisory Committee and the organizers of the school-wide walkout, have taken over Student Council’s role, while council members discuss what she described as trivial issues.

All-School President Elizabeth Van Ha sees Student Council as student leaders who initiate bills to help the students while also planning events to promote school spirit.

According to Elizabeth, any Student Council member can initiate a bill to solve a problem they care about if willing to actively support it.

“A common misconception of people that join Student Council is that everything will be given to them,” Elizabeth said, “but the way I see it is that once you are nominated, you are chosen to be a student leader and the grade sees you as a Student Council member, so it’s up to you to initiate the changes that you would like to see.”

According to Senior Class Vice President Cole Summerfelt, Elizabeth is one of the few Student Council members close enough with the administration to accomplish these student objectives because she attends many of their meetings.

“All of the powers that people think Student Council has, Fafa has,” Cole said, using Elizabeth’s nickname. He said the student body knows how involved Student Council is with the administration, but Elizabeth is typically the one who attends those meetings to share student opinions.

Cole said the All-School President is much more accountable than other Student Council members, and conceded few members take as much initiative as Elizabeth.

While Elizabeth believes the distinction between the executive board and the class boards may contribute to a Student Council hierarchy, no one has more power for getting bills passed.

“Bills can be initiated by anyone, and that person organizes all the meetings and paperwork regarding that project,” Elizabeth said. “Certain members are in those meetings, but that doesn’t mean they’re the ones leading. It does help to be a senior, but that’s just because more administrators know you.”

Senior Class President Ayaan Asthana said he ran primarily to organize events for the class and was capable of doing so, but he said some students expect more from Student Council than student leaders can deliver.

Earlier this year, Student Council did respond to student demands to change P.E. course requirements for varsity athletes, but the administration did not make any changes.

Even when changes do happen, Ayaan says incoming members should be aware of how long it takes so they aren’t disenchanted.

“Student Council is probably the best forum we have at the school right now to communicate some complaint to the administration and people who can actually make a change,” Ayaan said. “The limitation of Student Council is that ultimately it feels like we aren’t doing that much substantive work because we’re waiting for people to get back to us.”