By Caroline Keller, Y11
Before getting into LGB’s new electoral process, it’s important to understand what StuCo is first. StuCo (Student Council) is a student group whose job is to represent the student body in front of the administration and staff of our school. This system is not only in implemented in our school, but around the world. In the U.S, it is known as the student body president. In many countries, student councils are limited to only planning events. In our school we are lucky enough to have our StuCo coordinate several fun events throughout the year, such as movie nights and silent discos, but also use their voice to advocate for changes around the school, whether small (like music in the cafeteria on Fridays) or big.
StuCo elections this year, however, were different than before. Instead of voting for a group of students, who each took on individual roles, students wishing to run alone could also be nominated and voted for in elections. Although a group of students could run together, each student was voted for individually against other candidates running for the same job in StuCo.
As this is a new concept for LGB, I reached out to some of the candidates to see what they thought about the new electoral process. The first interviewee, current StuCo representative Boris Pavlov, ran alone and integrated into Nova StuCo after winning the most votes for chairperson. He now is co-chair along Samia Jonson, who ran with Nova StuCo originally. He said that this years StuCo elections were run very different from previous years. He finds that the “individual candidate system” is a very interesting newly implemented system, although, as with all things, the effectiveness could be improved. The confusing aspect, he said, was that the integration of an individual candidate into a group that was not entirely explained.
Our second interviewee was the face of the new system, Mr. Guhirwa, who said that every StuCo team varies in the way they work and in terms of their self-management. He continued to say that this year’s StuCo elections were a success due to the fact that it created a better team ethic, giving some insight on what our StuCo and every other StuCo has done in the past. They now meet up with Dr. Hughes once a week to discuss ideas, plans, and improvements.
Although this new electoral process may be unconventional, it has allowed candidates to run individually and work with other students to try and improve what they can for the student body. Nova StuCo has already organised a Dodgeball tournament, changed the bookroom hours, and are in the process of planning the BDN in coordination with the Nations and La Chataignerie campuses. If you have any suggestions or questions for them, you can contact @novastuco on instagram!
