On Friday, Oct. 24, the GW Chronicle hosted a live Q&A with the newly elected Student Council executive team. As the council shared both their individual and common goals for the year, they collectively emphasized a collaborative spirit and an intent to build a more interconnected student community.
“The main thing is just to have something available for every single person,” president Nikhil N. said.
To build community, the executive team wants to hear directly from students. Early in October, the team created and released a survey for the entire student body to share their opinion and input on Student Council activities. The survey will remain open to feedback throughout the school year.
“The first thing obviously our plan is to bring out the student survey to students and hear from them on what it is they would mainly want to see throughout the school year so we can get an idea of sort of the activities and events that students would love to participate in,” secretary Naima A. said.
Meanwhile, vice-president Audrey B.’s primary focus is to equip students to succeed academically.
“I found that this role would be a great way to help as many people as possible with getting people more together for promoting school spirit and for getting people more connected with each other for academic reasons as well,” Audrey said.
Audrey hopes to develop connectivity among the student body by creating an academic resource hub containing advice and tips from upperclassmen and long-term students.
“One of the things that I’m focusing on more specifically is the academic aspect, so that people are able to not only feel comfortable in the social environment of the school but also feel comfortable that they can reach out to each other for help with school… and it feels more like a community and not just doing schoolwork on your own,” Audrey said.
The team shares a vision to improve communication within the school to ensure that students are aware of upcoming events and opportunities.
“I think a lot of students don’t realize how many, you know, resources or activities are going on, because there’s a huge gap within communication,” Naima said.
For PR director Maxim D., amplifying the Student Council’s social media presence is integral to developing a better community.
“I want our team to have a more active Instagram that really lets people know what’s happening, what kind of events we’re hosting, and just keep people updated, because otherwise, how can people join social events if they don’t know that they’re even happening?”
Nikhil hopes to host events that facilitate active student engagement rather than passive attendance.
“Through Student Council, I kind of want to put together a bunch of different types of events, like some can be asynchronous, some can be long-term, some can be like assembly style. But the whole point of them will be for students to actually interact with each other, not just gather around forcibly,” Nikhil said.
Although the council members each have unique ideas, they hope to continue working collaboratively and support each other throughout the year.
“We do separate work quite equally, and if somebody is struggling with something, the other three people are very supportive,” Maxim said. “We all share ideas, and everybody gets heard, and that’s what I really like about our team this year.”
