October 2019 Student Council Progress Report

Hello IMSA,

I hope this first month of school has been challenging, exciting, and joyful. Student Council has been working hard from the start to help make our campus better, and we’re excited to share our recent work with you.

Remember, the Student Council is here to be your voice and make the changes you want to see on campus. Contact any member about any issue that is on your mind.

Congratulations on making it to the end of quarter one and have a wonderful extended!

With love,

Sophia Pribus

StudCo Vice-President

Project: Mental Health Initiative Week

Project Members: Ray Shang, Ashley Homecgoy, Monika Narain, Brenna Christoffel, Eric Pan, Alex Sobczynski, Ram Kakinada, Amanda Chen, Sophie Pribus

Purpose: To plan and execute Mental Health Initiative Week, bringing awareness on various mental health issues to the student body, faculty, staff, and administration.

Status Report: Mental Health Initiative Week was completed in the final week of September. The week was full of events, including a Build-a-Bear workshop where students asked counselor Takeisha Rheams about how to handle others’ mental health situations, a yoga class, a cookie bake n’ ice cream de-stress event, a “How Faculty/Staff Destress” event, and much more. 

Next Steps: Student Council will be reflecting on the event and planning how to make next year’s week even better. Please reach out with feedback and suggestions!

Project: Big Sibling Program

Project Members: Eric Pan, Ashley Homecgoy, Ray Shang

Purpose: Increasing cross-class interaction through matching upperclassmen and underclassmen, and easing the transition process for sophomores.

Status Report: Following the welcome week events, the Big Sibling committee planned and completed several more events, including a “How Well Do You Know Your Sibling” event which featured scrunchies and silly band prizes, as well as a FamCam event where sibling “families” could record a fun introduction to their family. The team has collaborated with SMAC to have a Sibling Coffeehouse this coming week. 

Next Steps: The team will continue planning fun events to improve sibling relationships throughout the year!

Project: Faculty-Student Dinners 

Project Members: Sid Panda, Brenna Christoffel, Cait Castillo, Ray Shang

Purpose: To provide students and faculty members with the opportunity to forge closer relationships. 

Status Report: The program has continued to seek out faculty feedback and has begun collecting responses to plan the first faculty-student dinner.

Next Steps: The team is continuing to plan the first dinner, which will tentatively take place in early November. 

Project: Club Fair Reformation

Project Members: Ashley Homecgoy, Xiaofan Li, Brenna Christoffel, Amanda Chen

Purpose: To reform the Club Fair structure to make it more accessible, convenient, and efficient.

Status Report: Club Fair was completed using the main gym and a new organizational system. 

Next Steps: The team will be reviewing the feedback received to see how Club Fair can be improved for next year! 

Project: Communication Flyers

Project Members: Eric Pan, Monika Narain, Brenna Christoffel, Amanda Chen

Purpose: To increase transparency by handing out physical flyers. 

Status Report: StudCo distributed flyers to students after the first day of school, and one week ago. 

Next Steps: StudCo will continue to distribute flyers habitually to update students on our work! In addition, StudCo is looking to create informational table-cards for students to read during meals in Sodexo. 

Project: Sodexo Committee

Project Members: Alex Sobczynski, Monika Narain, Ram Kakinada

Purpose: To improve Sodexo through consistent feedback.

Status Report: Sodexo Committee members were chosen from the student body. 

Next Steps: The Sodexo Committee will be meeting shortly to outline an agenda for the year to bring improvements from the student body to Sodexo! 

Project: Sophomore-at-Large

Project Members: Sophie Pribus, Monika Narain

Purpose: To elect our new sophomores-at-large! 

Status Report: Our new sophomores at large, Pranav Manoj and Jasmine Liu, have been elected and join our cabinet!

Next Steps: Our SALs will be trained and continue to work as fully-fledged cabinet members!

Project: Math/Science Credit Flexibility

Project Members: Sophie Pribus, Xiaofan Li

Purpose: To change the credit requirements system to allow for more course flexibility.

Status Report: We have proposed the concept to the IMSA administration and have sought feedback from the student body about the issue.

Next Steps: We will be meeting with principal Dr. Hernandez soon to discuss the details of the project and possible changes that can be made. 

Project: AP Peer Tutors

Project Members: Sophie Pribus

Purpose: To allow Peer Tutors to tutor for AP exams.

Status Report: This project has been completed. Tutors may now advertise their ability to tutor for AP exams. Ask your peer tutor for help preparing for an AP exam today!