With their last meeting before winter break, the members of Huber Ridge Elementary’s Student Council had a project to finish for their first big event this school year.
The members, who represent student leaders in the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade, spread out across the cafeteria during Wednesday’s meeting, writing names of all Huber Ridge students on name tags.
The name tags are among the activities the Student Council is putting together for the school’s Start with Hello Week on Jan. 10-14.
“It’s nice because when we put name tags on people, we can know their names and help them stand out so they are not in the shadows,” student council member and fifth-grader Caylen Milner said.
Huber Ridge has sponsored a Student Council for years but the pandemic forced advisors Amy Van Sickle and Kristan Robertson to hold off on organizing a group last year. They brought back the student organization this year, ramping up the experience in response to the limited opportunities students have had to interact with each other throughout the pandemic.
In addition to the activities the group has done in previous years, students will also be trained with the Start with Hello community building, kindness, and belonging movement.
Student Council serves as one of the few true leadership opportunities outside of the classroom at the elementary stage of education, Van Sickle said.
“Our building and district teachers are great at providing daily opportunities for students to lead their classmates in their homerooms,” she said. “Student Council is one of our student’s few outlets to build, practice and show their leadership skills at this level.”
Fifth-grader Lexie Rismiller is honored to be part of the Student Council.
“Student council is a good way for kids to open up to people in their class and not just play at recess by themselves,” she said. “It can help people introduce themselves more.”
Milner agrees.
“They teach us how to help people and how to make them feel welcome and make them feel like they have friends,” she said. “I feel like I’m of use when I’m at Student Council.”