Student government co-presidents Drew Picard and Elea Zegdoun laid out their plans for the coming school year, focusing mainly on rebuilding our school community post pandemic, and taking on an active role in fostering a more diverse and inclusive IACS community.
As their first priority, the co-presidents shared that they wanted to rebuild the sense of community at IACS that was so severely harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “As a freshman, I knew every single highschooler,” Zegdoun commented. “[I knew] all of the seniors, all of the juniors, all of the sophomores, and all of my freshman class, but now as a senior, I don’t know any of the freshmen or any of the sophomores because we lost that sense of community so bad that year.”
The student government wants to repair that sense of community this year with events involving multiple grades, providing opportunities for students of all ages to bond together. The leaders said they did not yet have any concrete plans for such events, after all the student government has only just had their first few meetings of the year, but there are plenty of ideas floating around. “With the pumpkin run, we could turn it into some kind of haunted house through the trails,” suggested Zegdoun. Picard also posed the idea of involving sports teams, with some sort of staff or student game.
Another main priority for the student government this year is diversity and inclusion. In the last few years, IACS has been one of many communities nationwide considering their own impact on diversity and racial justice in America. The student government believes they should also be taking on an active role in promoting diversity at IACS. “We want to make sure that we are continuing to make IACS a better place for all students, and not just some students,” Picard said. “We’re working to do a few events that regard different backgrounds and cultures.” One such idea proposed by Picard was for a themed month, representing a certain culture, and a possible collaboration with the IACS food staff to serve a meal from that culture.
Planning events to accomplish these goals won’t be without difficulties. Figuring out the logistics of safely executing an event with lots of students and staff in attendance is easier said than done. The student government is still exploring their options, and what the school will and won’t allow in terms of COVID safety. “A lot of that is also waiting on the state to release stuff, because they haven’t released specific guidelines yet,” Picard explained.
Despite the challenges, the leaders feel they are up to it. When asked how she foresaw how her student government experience from last year may be helpful, Zegdoun said “It was definitely a valuable experience to be a part of student government [last year] because I had to kind of adapt … I think Drew and I are going to be really good at doing that this year because we don’t know what’s coming.” Whatever does end up coming next, the IACS student government is ready to face challenges head on. As Zegdoun put it, “Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches.”
