The new rural student representative to the board for Saskatchewan Rivers Students for Change (SRSC) made the first presentation of the school year at the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division Board of Education’s regular meeting on Oct. 16.
SRSC student representative Charlie Lysyk a Grade 12 student from Meath Park gave the first report from the SRSC. Director of Education Neil Finch said that it was great to have a new representative at the table.
“(It was) just nice energy in the room to have her be part of that and just yet another voice,” Finch said.
“She had input and that’s great,” he added.
Lysyk delivered a report outlining the first full group meeting and the Executive orientation for the SRSC this year.
Lysyk said that she was excited, but asked for patience because she was new to the position. There was no swearing-in ceremony for Lysyk because she is not a student trustee.
The SRC met as a full group on Sept. 20 and the executive met on Oct. 3. Lysyk said that during the September meeting, they discussed the Student Leadership Councils and other activities at schools.
“In my school, we found that pep rallies were not as engaging to students as they used to be, people found it boring and repetitive, so we actually changed them to student versus teacher games, which people really enjoy and find more fun and actual high school students have more fun playing it,” she said.
Birch Hills has also switched to Friday Spirit Days rather than full Spirit Weeks.
“After that, we held our annual election and we’re still looking for an urban representative,” Lysyk told trustees.
On Oct. 3, trustees Grant Gustafson and Bill Gerow discussed the roles and responsibilities of the executive.
Lysky said increasing student engagement and student involvement are the group’s biggest goals for the 2023-24 school year.
“A lot of students are finding that they don’t have as much of a voice in their school as they’d like to, so we’re going to try to discuss that this year,” Lysyk said.
Students for Change members are already putting AI to good use in helping members learn about the group’s constitution. The SRSC, with help from Superintendent Garrette Tebay, purposefully designed flaws in a Constitution Scavenger Hunt to help members learn about AI’s limits.
“That was a really good, timely topic too because AI is kind of infiltrating everything,” Tebay said. “As a student it is sometimes pretty tempting to put this essay topic in ChatGPT.”
The SRSC’s new constitution changes mean the student representative will change from meeting to meeting. There will still be one rural and one urban representative for each meeting, and students must have been a member of the board for one year before being elected.
Student representatives will coordinate representation at meetings so there is always a student in attendance. This change comes after last year when there was some turnover and representatives were not present at every meeting.
Lysyk was also able to voice a student perspective on Board topics of debate and ended the meeting inviting board members to follow the SRSC on their new Instagram account.
In a release from the division, the Board extended their sincerest thanks to Lysysk for representing the group so well.
SRSC Representatives are still not allowed to make a motion but can suggest a motion. Student Representatives are not allowed to vote but may take part in discussion and debate.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
