Class leadership councils become an opportunity for students starting in their sophomore year. Perspective students who seek to be a part of the council fill out a Google form application and undergo a series of small group and large group interviews. The tasks of each grade level council vary; however, the basic principles of all the councils strive to instill leadership opportunities for its members.

Sophomore advisor and US Science teacher, Ned Heckman watches over the sophomore class leadership council (SoCLC).

“One of the main things I, as the SoCLC advisor, do is to facilitate discussion about what is going on in the sophomore grade. If there are any issues we discuss them and try to combat them,” Heckman said.

Throughout the year, SoCLC organizes class meetings, plans the sophomore retreat, and organizes service hours to help sophomores meet their 12-hour requirement.

SoCLC member Noel Abraham was very eager to join the class leadership council after his ninth-grade year.

“I wanted to become more involved with the community. Overall, it was a great decision to join SoCLC because I am getting lots of opportunities to do just that. My favorite thing we did this year was when we all were just working on the class board and it was so much fun,” Abraham said.

Abraham, like many other council members, plans to apply for JCLC next year in order to keep interacting and leading the community.

Junior Kathleen Bishop, like Abraham, was on SoCLC as well as JCLC this year. For similar reasons to Abraham, Bishop appreciates the opportunities given to council members to voice their opinions.

“I really enjoyed SoCLC which is why I applied to be on JCLC and know that I made the right decision. JCLC has been a great experience and it’s been even more involved then I would have ever anticipated. We have a lot of fun in meetings and get to plan prom, junior retreat, and make class t-shirts,” Bishop said.

Class leadership representative from 2017, Peter Moore, reflects on his experience from JCLC last year.

“One of the most memorable experiences on JCLC was making the class t-shirts. It’s unlike anything else that you get to do on a leadership council. It took us a very long time to nail down one idea, but the process of brainstorming was entertaining,” Moore said.

While final class leadership opportunities come on the senior class leadership council, the chances for growth and responsibility only grow.

“My experience on SCLC has been really rewarding so far. As someone who has been a member of all the leadership councils, SCLC’s opportunities to shape the class for the last time are really fun,” senior Mia Litman said.

This year, SCLC has focused on uniting the grade to set an example for the rest of the school.

According to SCLC advisor Senior Daniels, “the whole school is only as good as its senior class.”

Class leadership councils are a great opportunity to immerse different students together and work towards the common goal of uniting their perspective grades through various methods. Whether it be planning a class meeting, being a person to approach with problems, or organizing larger grade events, class leadership opportunities give students to options to learn new skills.

While all the class leadership councils have seen success in these areas, there still remains no class leadership council for 9th graders.