Since the 2023-2024 school year began, Haven’s Student Council representatives have focused on making changes to get students involved in the school’s culture.

One of these includes the implementation of posting morning announcements online to the Activities Google Classroom.

“I had gotten a lot of feedback saying people can’t hear the announcements over the intercom, which is totally understandable and very true,” student council president and senior Lola Babin said. “So I started posting them on the Activities pages in case someone missed something they wanted to hear.”

According to Babin, she has seen a steady increase in extracurricular participation because of the announcements. A Google Forms system that gathers event information from clubs and athletics shares weekly meetings and events out to the entire student body.

“It’s very easy to use, and seeing people use it is fulfilling,” Babin said. “It’s just your name, the date you want the announcement, and what you want the announcement to say for when something in your club is happening or a fundraiser. It has actually increased student activity.”

There is the challenge of whether students ever even see the announcements online in Google Classroom, though. “I don’t really know how often people check,” Babin said.

Babin hopes to build more channels to communicate with the student body and is already considering using the Student Council Instagram to further get the word out.

“I’ve also posted some [daily announcements] on Instagram, which people probably will see more than a Google Classroom page these days,” she said. “So yeah, I want to have just multiple sources of engagement, and I think that is what will make it most seen.”

Besides updates to the announcements, school board representatives and seniors Aditi Halpe and Mirella DiPalma have held two student forums so far this year during fifth blocks.

“Mirella and I decided this year that we wanted to have these student forums because we noted during our campaigns that there’s really been a gap in the knowledge of school board decisions and administrative decisions and what students know about them,” Halpe said.

With the forums, Halpe finds that hearing what some students have to say first-hand has helped her better understand what students want from the administration.

“It’s been really interesting to hear different perspectives, both from upperclassmen who’ve gone through and have noticed certain strengths or certain weaknesses for growth, and also from underclassmen, who are here for the first time and seeing what they really love about the high school or what they feel like could be improved,” she said.

At the WSSD School Board meeting on October 23, DiPalma described student feedback on the bathrooms at the high school, calling the bathrooms “consistently in dysfunction and not available for students to use properly.” She stated that students would prioritize changes to the bathrooms, the trailers, the athletic facilities and pool, and the library in future renovations.

While the student forums are held to grab insight from students and facilitate communication between the Board and students, Halpe believes that there is another important goal in providing forums that ask for student opinions on important school issues.

“I think our main goal is to really empower and engage the school community,” Halpe said. “Something that I think over my last four years that I’ve noticed is that students really don’t have a place to voice their concerns without it being lost in like piles of paperwork or just you complaining to a teacher after school about something and they’re like, ‘okay,’ and you never hear about it ever again.”

As the school year continues, Halpe hopes to emphasize the importance of student voice within School Board meetings.

“One thing that I’ve seen is that obviously, a lot of people are busy during fifth block, and it’s hard for them to come and speak to us,” Halpe said. “So another idea that we’ve been thinking about is sending out like a Google Form or blindly interviewing people during school or lunch, and assessing how they feel about certain decisions being made.”

Both Halpe and Babin plan to continue to develop what they have implemented thus far.

“We really want to create a space where students feel comfortable sharing what they like about the school or what they feel like could be addressed in our school environment,” Halpe said. “I personally think that this was the best way to engage students, and also have some thought and responsibility and community engagement.”