Aidan McCarron ’17
As Northwood moves on to the 2016-2017 school year, students will notice changes to the student council. The purpose of the student council is to make Northwood School feel like it belongs to the students, and that we have a say in some of the decisions. The main jobs of student council will remain the same. For example, planning winter carnival and putting proposals in for things like wearing shorts or no shave November.
What will change is how students are appointed and that all grades will have a say. In the past, Mr. Mellor would pick the student council in order to prevent voting from becoming a popularity contest. That is changing as we approach a new school year. Now, there will be five to ten representatives from each grade chosen for the purpose of making our student council more democratic.
The change in how student council members are selected will help the student body be able to identify who represents them. That’s important, because if you most students to name who was on student council this year, they probably couldn’t name more than a few of its members. Also the division among grades is a great idea because it will make the student council more approachable to a younger student, as there are members in their grade. The voting also helps the students feel some control in their school, which is why the student council was established in the first place. The only downside is the race for student council risks becoming a popularity contest, but students should resist choosing their representatives based on popularity. All in all the changes are putting more choice in the students hands and making the school a better place for the student body as a whole.
