Jessica George
In the Early School Leavers Report, by Dr. Bruce Ferguson, it was noted one of the main reasons students drop out of school is their disengagement with school culture and community.
It implied that when students were engaged in their school’s activities and culture, they most likely were to be successful as well as develop the skills and knowledge necessary for reaching their full potential.
That’s why the Ontario government has started the “Speak Up: You are the Student Voice” initiative, which is made up of three components:
•a student advisory committee comprised of student representatives from Grades 7-12;
•applications for grant money to go towards student and student council projects; and
•the formation of a regional student forum for high school students to discuss areas of formal education.
Two Grade 8 students from St. Francis School here have applied to sit on the student advisory committee.
Emily Hyatt, who is president of the student council at St. Francis, and Nicole Horn wrote their main focuses for change as being the breakdown of cliques among students and the enhancement of education through peer tutoring, respectively.
“I want to be part of it [the committee] because you get to make things happen at your school and that doesn’t get to happen a lot,” noted Horn, adding that sometimes when an idea does get brought up, it is often done by the teachers in their own way—not necessarily in the way the student thought it would work.
“It’s a chance to express how you feel and what you would like to see,” enthused Hyatt. “It’s a chance to make students want to be in school.”
She proposed that schools should have more activities where everyone is involved, and where students are given a chance to meet other students they may have ignored otherwise.
Hyatt feels that if people could be comfortable around everyone, and not just a specific few, then concerns would be heard and students would be less stressed when confronted with an issue.
“I think it’s important because part of being in school is being with other people,” she reasoned.
As president of the student council at St. Francis, Hyatt, along with suggestions from the rest of the council, also put together a grant proposal under this program.
They put together a plan that included student-led, school-wide activities that would happen once a month, along with a winter carnival and a School Spirit Week, which would be held in conjunction with Catholic Education Week.
“It’s showing that we really do care about school, and it shows people that our school is really involved and that we include all students and don’t leave people out,” she explained.
While Horn agrees that cliques exist in the school, her focus is on education.
“[Education] is important because when you get older, if you don’t have a good education, you can’t go as far in life,” she remarked. “You can’t get a really good job or you can’t get the job that you want—you’re stuck in one spot.
“If you get a good education, then you can go farther in life.”
Horn noted students often have difficulty paying attention to lessons, resulting in them not fully understanding a concept. As such, she feels that through peer tutoring and mentorship programs, younger students will get a chance to learn not just from their teachers, but from other students.
“Just sometimes they could help them out with math or something,” she suggested.
Only 60 students from across the province will be invited to participate in the committee, but neither Hyatt nor Horn are discouraged by the long odds.
They are confident in their ideas and both insist that even if they are not chosen, they intend to apply them to their school through appealing to the staff and student council.
Colette Fafard, the student council co-leader teacher at St. Francis, assured their ideas will not go unheard.
“Regardless if we get any grant money or not, we are planning on going ahead with all of the activities that are part of that [student council] proposal,” Fafard said, noting a lot of Hyatt’s ideas about ending cliques were entrenched in the student council’s proposal.
“As for Nicole’s, we haven’t gotten there yet [peer tutoring], but it will certainly be brought to the teachers in the staff meeting and we will have a discussion about that,” she added.
Fafard said she was amazed at the quality of their ideas and the initiative they took in filling out the applications.
She noted while many students would be interested in sitting on the advisory committee so they could be flown to Toronto, only truly dedicated ones would take the time to fill out such a thoughtful application.
“I think that it’s really exciting for the students to really feel like they have a voice, not only in their own school but across the province,” Fafard enthused.
“I think it’s really exciting for Northwestern Ontario students to have a chance to really speak up about what their needs are,” she added.
The chance to sit on the committee is open to students of all schools across the district, with the deadline to apply being this Friday (Nov. 28). So far, only Hyatt and Horn have stepped forward.
Casey Slack, the Student Success leader for the Rainy River District School Board, did say the paperwork has been passed on to students in the public board, too, and that he really hopes a few will take advantage of the opportunity.
