Are you interested in making changes to better our school and community? Do you want to gain leadership skills? Are you looking to represent the school? Then the student council might be the right fit for you.

The South High Student Council is a group of students who come together to strengthen the school for all the students and the community. They are a diverse and committed club who hosts homecoming, pep rallies, and spirit weeks to bring the school together and raise school spirit. As mentioned before, they are not just focused on the school, but they often host fundraisers and volunteer to help in the community.

This year, social studies teacher and Academic Decathlon coach Abigail Kutlas-Prickett and social studies teacher Sarah Gonzales sponsored student council. Kutlas-Prickett and Gonzales decided to come together to sponsor the club since the previous sponsors were giving it up and they both wanted to be involved with the school and culture.

“We both had similar ideas in mind about running student council, and we knew we would make a great team, so we came together,” Gonzales said.

When interviewing Kutlas-Prickett, she shared her responsibilities as a sponsor. “There is a system and process for everything. I have never been a sponsor before, so I had no idea about all the paperwork you must fill out when trying to run a non-profit organization,” she said. Filling out paperwork is not the only thing they do as sponsors, but they are also in charge behind the scenes of events and the budget. This year for student council is different. “We have presidents, a secretary, and a social media manager. There are also three different committees for the students in which they focus on strengthening South, community outreach, and inter-school connections,” Kutlas-Prickett said.

They are trying to figure things out how everything works since they have people who have strong opinions and want certain things done a certain way. “Our goal for this year is to survive and figure out how this works as well as plan one big event for second semester that involves all the South students,” Kutlas-Prickett said.

Gonzales said that student council is important because it allows for students’ voices to be heard as well as allowing student input.

“Teenagers in general should have a say in things that involve them specifically. And we can help students out by directly hearing from them,” she said. Being able to let students experience what being a part of the school community is about is another priority. Having students interact with other people who are not their friends and getting them out of their comfort zones is another important thing, Gonzales added. That is where most of their ideas for events or activities come from since they would like to have students interact with other people and get to know one another.

This year, students who were interested in student council filled out an application and solicited two teacher recommendations. Students with leadership skills who want their voices heard, stay tuned for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year on how to join student council!