Freshmen Representatives have been the latest voice within the Student Council community representing their age group. However, three years ago this was a very different story.
Within the archives of Hickman’s student body history, freshmen have been excluded from the room where it happens. Once Leslie Schneiders took over the post for student council advisor, she immediately implemented the changes leading up to today. This is the third year Freshman have been able to join the Student Council team.
Current student council advisor and initiator of this new policy, Schneiders, voiced her initial reaction upon discovering the absence of the school’s youngest pack.
“I was shocked that, you know, 25% of the school’s population wasn’t represented on council, so that was one of the immediate changes that I made to get everybody’s voice,” Schneiders said.
Schneiders explained why freshman individuals are so important.
“[They] bring in the voice of the freshman, as students get older, they forget about that tough transition year and being the bottom of the pack. So they’re that reminder,” Schneiders said.
Not only do the freshmen excel at representing their on-level members, they work as a powerful group for the entirety of the Student Council as well.
“…They tend to be more involved…so they have been the first to step up to go to conferences and state leadership camps and have really been active,” Schneiders said.
Schneiders explained that when it comes to selecting the new line up it’s all up to the Big Four.
This year’s Big Four are President Savion Harris (12), Vice President Gabriel Palmer (12), Student Body Secretary Thurlo Peterman (11), and Student body Treasurer David Rivera-Velez (12).
Upon introduction, Savion, the Student Body President, shared his visions of the school year and what that might mean for the upcoming freshman.
“[We want to make] sure that students are able to come to school and feel like they have a place to learn and have people that they can talk to…being able to connect with other types of people, [whether] that’s through clubs or other out [of] school things,” Savion said.
Thurlo, Student Body Secretary, shared his similar insights into what the perspectives of the freshman might be.
“Entering into high school, you’ve had no prior experience…so making your freshman year a welcoming, inviting and just overall great experience is really important to me,” Thurlo said.
Savion discusses further as he explains how the Freshman Representatives are selected.
“Basically, it would be kind of like how we did our subcommittee interviews…making sure that they had some understanding of what it is like to be a part of a council, if they were in middle school and they had some sort of council or government position, those would be the qualities that we would look for,” Savion said.
Newly selected Freshman Representative Pasha Raghu shared her resume regarding middle school council.
“I participated in student government all three years [in middle school]. In seventh grade, I was the Vice President of Student Council, and then in eighth grade I was the president,” Pasha said.
She also added on her own goals of joining the team.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know all of the people in Student Council, and seeing how it compares to middle school,” Pasha said.
And just as the Big Four are looking for, Pasha shared her aspirations and insights for her freshman year of school.
“One of the things that I wanted to do during my time in Student Council [is to] try to plan more events to get the community involved, the Hickman community, because as a freshman, specifically, it’s kind of hard to get to know people, just because there’s not that many events that you can go to, to interact with people,” Pasha said.
Harvey Munter (10), last year’s Freshmen Representative, shares how Student Council allowed him to explore fantastic opportunities.
“Since the interview I got assigned to my pod, which was activities. I got to meet a lot of really, really cool upperclassmen, and had a lot of great experiences planning Homecoming and Court Warming and all the other events [and] activities [we] were part of,“ Harvey said.
As a veteran representative himself, Harvey voiced his anticipation regarding mentorship of the new recruits.
“I’m happy [and] I’m excited to mentor these people and make sure they have a good high school freshman experience.”
No matter what happens at Hickman this year, one thing can be certain: the new Freshman Representatives are enthusiastic and determined additions to the Hickman community.
“They have been some of the best energy in the Council,” Schnieders said.
