Applications have opened for 2024-25 Student Council, with barcode-adorned black and red posters giving students the opportunity to scan and apply from their phone until Jan. 29.
“[STUCO] provides the students leadership opportunities, commitment to community service projects which could be out in the community or on campus, or it provides any student who’s involved in it the opportunity to be a voice for different diverse groups on campus,” STUCO teacher Kandy Stevens said.
Stevens’ aim is to have a team made up of people from different backgrounds that have different outlooks.
“We put in the newsletter, we put it in the cafeteria, we put it out on social media, and post it around the school [so that] every student can see it,” Stevens said. “One of the questions on the application is: what other areas are you involved in at the school? When I look through it, I’m not just looking for, [for example], student athletes; I want people who are in HOSA, or DECA, or theater, so that does bring in diverse groups – and we don’t solely choose based on that, but it is something that we look at.”
Applicants coming in from different backgrounds also means the club can cater to the opinions of specific individuals. First-time applicant sophomore Katelyn Bott has some ideas on how the school can be more inclusive when it comes to athletics.
“I think any athletic program should be valued,” Bott said. “[Apart from] just focusing on football, we should value every sport at Liberty to make it a more inclusive environment. We can do a lot more things to support [other sports programs] and make [their] games very fun.”
For students, there are many merits associated with joining STUCO: an opportunity to socialize more and set up fun activities are some.
“I’m a more outgoing person in STUCO and have made more friends,” Byrne said. “Also, my favorite part has probably been being able to host advisory events for the school. We’ve done musical chairs, bingo, uno and cakewalk – where we gave snacks away to the students.”
Although STUCO’s advisory events are a hit or miss for students, they’re always worth it to Stevens.
“If some people come down to our advisory events and maybe there’s only 20 people, they consider that unsuccessful; but if they look around and see the demographic – the people that are in there – they’ll see that it met the need for those kids,” Stevens said. “These might be kids that aren’t involved in clubs or organizations so they can, at least once a month, go down to the gym and participate as a group and socialize with their peers in a way they usually don’t get to. I tell people ‘don’t judge it by the numbers.’ If you see somebody smiling and having a good time – even if it’s just two people – then you did what you were supposed to do.”
