1. Choose a leadership quote and in a short paragraph explain how it applies to your “style” of leadership and why.

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other” – John F. Kennedy.

I believe this applies to my leadership style because my personal philosophy is, learning does not stop once a student steps out of a classroom. Learning is everywhere, and anywhere a person chooses to look for it. As a leader, I have learned that is is extremely important to not only learn from your mistakes, but to learn with the group you are leading.

Not only does this create an inclusive environment, but it creates an atmosphere of support. To establish a successful leadership, support must be felt from the one leading as well as those being lead. I believe that leading is leveraging the team’s skills to ensure everyone’s success, and if the group is working together, than everyone can be learning something.

2. As a student council member, what important goals would you have for Student Council? For Archer?

As a student council member, I would like to up the ante of school spirit. While Archer possesses an incredible amount, I believe that school spirit does not only pertain to supporting students at sports games, shows, and tournaments, but also supporting other students across all grades.

I would like to create a strong connection across all grades, without age/seniority being a concern. As for student council, I think that this years ASB did a great job with encouraging student involvement and beginning new traditions, such as hilarious music videos involving teachers, that will be carried on in years to come. I would like to keep these traditions as well as begin new ones.

3. What are your plans for increasing school spirit and student participation at Archer?

To increase school spirit and participation at Archer, I would like to continue incentives such as food, prizes, and spirit points, but also foster a community of positivity. To do so, I will start by having regular scheduled meetings for the ASB to have with all grades. While ambitious and time consuming, I think the first step for support is making sure there is a connection to begin with.

By having ASB meet with individual grades and developing relationships, there will be more student participation due to friendships across grades. In addition, some unique ideas on increasing school spirit are pep-rally’s towards the beginning of the school year. Although towards the end of the year, seniors form a pep rally and in the beginning of the next school year welcome everyone to school during orientation, I feel that there should be a school wide pep rally, featuring a fair in the courtyard entailing excitement for the coming school year.

There will be activities that encourage school spirit. Maybe this can be aligned with the club fair? As well as this, I feel that Archer should create more spirit wear for students that can be worn on game days or on Fridays to show support. To encourage school spirit and participation, at US and MS meetings there should be spirited student recognitions as well as outstanding student recognitions, where students who show exemplary student spirit and/ or academic or artistic excellence get recognized and praised. This way, more students will feel motivated to participate.

4. What role(s) do you think Student Council should play at archer? Is Student Council currently fulfilling that role? If not, what changes do you propose to make it happen?

Student Council plays a big role in organizing the student bodies activities, uniting all grades, and creating a respectful, supportive environment. Included in this simplified list, is a responsibility to be open to feedback as well as adjusting to the schools needs. I think that ASB should be flexible and open to change, but still keeping a structure that the rest of the school is familiar with and feels comfortable abiding by.

I do believe that ASB is fulfilling this role, especially in this recent school year. 2014-2015 ASB has transformed into a complete and total support system dedicated to the student body. The amount of hard work that goes into the ASB is evident through morning assemblies, emails, student activities, and the hours put into fostering a healthy Archer environment.

5. Why do you want to be on Student Council, really?

Having served terms at my middle school, I understand the commitment a program like Student Council demands. I am also a member of Peer Support at Archer, and served on this year’s Dance Troupe Leadership Team. I believe that I have sufficient experience to lead Archer students, and I firmly believe that I am ready to take my leadership skills to the next level and challenge myself.

I am equipped to deal with adversity, celebration, stress, and deal with whatever is thrown towards ASB. I have a passion for leadership, as I am attending two leadership programs this summer. One of them traveling to Fiji with a teen travel group dedicated to community service and leadership, Rustic Pathways, and the other traveling to American University with NSLC, National Student Leadership Conference, to do a course on International Diplomacy. I would like to take on more of a leadership role in the Archer community and extend my influence.