State Student Council
By Joslyn Schrank on April 5, 2018
The 2018 student council convention was held in Rapid City March 25-27. Student council is a group of students elected from every school by their student body who meet and discuss how to make the school and community better.
“I really enjoyed being with other student councils and meeting new people. I always like talking to the members of the state student council board. Everyone is always nice and polite. The banquet is one of my favorite things because it feels very fancy with people serving you and the lights down low. Plus, the food is always delicious. Kristin and I participated in the run on Monday morning. It was really cool to see people come together and participate in the Children’s Miracle Network,” sophomore Lindsey Weeldryer said.
On Sunday night, the students went to the opening where they told everyone the theme, what it was about and how many students attend the state convention. The theme for state convention was “hometown heroes” and there were over 1,000 students who attended. The night ended with a few different activities such as karaoke, laser tag and a dance.
“I thought the karaoke was very fun. Everyone was very into it and the dance was that times ten. Everyone circled around me and started chanting which I thought was pretty dope,” senior Cameron Steen said.
On Monday, the 3k run took place at 6:30 a.m. The cost was five dollars to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. A motivational speaker was brought in to talk about ways to make a difference in the students’ school and community. The students were told to attend six different workshops throughout the day. The workshops consisted of how to deal with stress in your life, how to start best buddy programs throughout school, how people can help with special needs children and how drinking and doing drugs while driving is very dangerous. The students later voted for new delegates for the student council board. Later that night, the students attended a banquet where they heard stories about the Children’s Miracle Network, where all the donations from each chapter were donated. The students also ate and find out who the new members of the board were.
The name of the motivational speaker who spoke was Mike Smith. He discussed how to be a leader and make a difference. He told the students that it doesn’t matter how average they are, they can still make an impact. He also told the students to be a doer not a talker, where students should follow through with their plans to make a difference. When Mike Smith was in college, he went out of his way to help the homeless by giving them his possessions and clothing and taking people’s scraps from the cafeteria to take to the homeless. Now, he has his own business selling beanies to make an impact on the homeless. For every beanie sold, one is donated to the homeless.
“I thought Mike Smith was a phenomenal speaker. I think it’s so awesome to see someone go so far out of their way to help people that he/she may not even know. He doesn’t do any of this to make himself look good but more out of the goodness of his heart and his mission to make a difference,” junior Kristin Kotas said.
Something unique occurred at this year’s state elections, as well. For the newly chosen state executive board, two students came from the James River region, the region B-E is in, were elected as the new president and vice president. This state-wide holding of office shows the hard work and dedication of the student council members of our region.
“I really enjoyed being with other student councils and meeting new people. I always like talking to the members of the state student council board. Everyone is always nice and polite. The banquet is one of my favorite things because it feels very fancy with people serving you and the lights down low. Plus, the food is always delicious. Kristin and I participated in the run on Monday morning. It was really cool to see people come together and participate in the Children’s Miracle Network,” sophomore Lindsey Weeldryer said.
On Sunday night, the students went to the opening where they told everyone the theme, what it was about and how many students attend the state convention. The theme for state convention was “hometown heroes” and there were over 1,000 students who attended. The night ended with a few different activities such as karaoke, laser tag and a dance.
“I thought the karaoke was very fun. Everyone was very into it and the dance was that times ten. Everyone circled around me and started chanting which I thought was pretty dope,” senior Cameron Steen said.
On Monday, the 3k run took place at 6:30 a.m. The cost was five dollars to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. A motivational speaker was brought in to talk about ways to make a difference in the students’ school and community. The students were told to attend six different workshops throughout the day. The workshops consisted of how to deal with stress in your life, how to start best buddy programs throughout school, how people can help with special needs children and how drinking and doing drugs while driving is very dangerous. The students later voted for new delegates for the student council board. Later that night, the students attended a banquet where they heard stories about the Children’s Miracle Network, where all the donations from each chapter were donated. The students also ate and find out who the new members of the board were.
The name of the motivational speaker who spoke was Mike Smith. He discussed how to be a leader and make a difference. He told the students that it doesn’t matter how average they are, they can still make an impact. He also told the students to be a doer not a talker, where students should follow through with their plans to make a difference. When Mike Smith was in college, he went out of his way to help the homeless by giving them his possessions and clothing and taking people’s scraps from the cafeteria to take to the homeless. Now, he has his own business selling beanies to make an impact on the homeless. For every beanie sold, one is donated to the homeless.
“I thought Mike Smith was a phenomenal speaker. I think it’s so awesome to see someone go so far out of their way to help people that he/she may not even know. He doesn’t do any of this to make himself look good but more out of the goodness of his heart and his mission to make a difference,” junior Kristin Kotas said.
Something unique occurred at this year’s state elections, as well. For the newly chosen state executive board, two students came from the James River region, the region B-E is in, were elected as the new president and vice president. This state-wide holding of office shows the hard work and dedication of the student council members of our region.
