Sarah Hopper, HIS student council advisor and fifth grade teacher, discusses restarting the student council during the 2023-2024 school year.

When was the last time HIS had a student council?

The Student Council was active up until COVID, so the school year of 2019-2020 was the last year they had it. After that, no one sponsored it for three years.

What inspired you to restart the HIS Student Council?

Each year, many kids asked about student council. Our principal asked three of us to start one from scratch and incorporate any ideas we wanted. We were thrilled to help offer 3rd through 5th grade students a leadership role.

Can you tell me about the team of teachers that collaborated on this project?

There are three classroom teachers that are the new sponsors. Renee Scott, who teaches third grade, Bridgett Cox teaches fourth grade and Sarah Hopper teaches fifth grade. We are all talented in different ways and work together very well to pool our strengths and make it a fun, yet rewarding leadership experience for our students.

What was the process behind restarting the student council?

The three of us met together and decided to incorporate some of the old traditions of Student Council such as a classroom election to decide one representative per class. But, we decided to begin new traditions as well such as our service project called “Pack the Principal’s Office” where we brought in canned goods. We kept old traditions like a Christmas party, end of the year party and a thank you to the staff for Teacher Appreciation Week.

What did student elections look like?

We had each homeroom elect one classroom representative. Students were able to speak to their classrooms as to why they wanted to be chosen to represent their class in the Student Council.

What has been your favorite part of advising the HIS Student Council this year?

The kids! Seeing these students step up and be leaders in their classrooms, our school, and even our community has been so special and very rewarding.

What is next for the HIS Student Council?

We are hoping to make next year even better! We plan to start elections earlier next year, probably in August. We will still have some of the same service projects and fundraisers, but we are hoping to add to them.