Minutes for 10/16 Meeting

2015-16 Student Council     Date: 10/2/15     Time: 7:30 a.m.     Location: P.A. Room

Member of the Student Council Present: Nate Gordon ‘16, Cody Cavanagh ‘17, Caroline Channell ‘18, Calvin Ticknor-Swanson ‘16, Kyle Doucette ‘16, Yuwei Cao ‘16, Sideya Dill ‘16, Natalie Aquadro ‘17, Leah Pezanowski ‘17, Nick Hill ‘17, Danny Hong ‘17, Ellie Scott ‘18, Katie Most ‘18, Derrick Zhao ‘18, Natalie Romain ‘18, Glede Wang ‘19, Rachel Burke ’19, Robby Hill ’19, Catherine King ’19, Molly Solan ’19,

Faculty/Administrators Present: Mr. Hill, Ms. Noble, Mr. Spearing, Mr. Rivenburgh, Ms. Conroy, Ms. Derby (SAGE)

Topics are listed in the order in which they were raised.

Note: Due to spending much of the meeting discussing the self-study and the StuBop, we weren’t able to discuss much of what was on the agenda.

Self-Study

Williston is conducting a self-study that it will present to an outside group. The self-study is meant to evaluate how the school is doing and find out what it could be doing better. Mr. Rivenburgh and Ms. Conroy came to our meeting to ask us a few questions related to the study. Their questions related to advising, diversity, and technology. Members of the Student Council talked about what Williston does well in these three area and about how the school could improve.

Diversity Day

This came up through our discussion about diversity for the self-study. Mr. Hill told us that the school is not planning on having a Diversity Symposium similar to the one last year. Instead, the topic of diversity will be discussed throughout the year in collaboration with celebrating Williston’s 175th year.

SAGE

Ms. Derby from Dining Services came to our meeting to get some feedback on the new StuBop. There weren’t many complaints, but we did request for the StuBop to increase its hours, offer options to students when they can’t go to the Dining Hall.

Update on Curfew Proposal

Raised by: Ms. Noble

Discussion: The proposal for a slightly later curfew for juniors made it through the first round of the confirmation process. The final step is for it be approved by dorm heads. If it is, it will be put into place for Trimester 2.

Spirit Week

Raised by: General Consensus

Discussion: We had to decide which day of Spirit Week (beginning 10/19) would have which themes. Ones we considered: All black, Superhero, Pajama day, Opposite day, Hometown day, Neon, Favorite TV/ movie character, Mix and match, Pink day

Decision: Final: Twin Tuesday, Wednesday (Pink), Thursday (Patriotic-all countries), Friday (Williston apparel)

What we couldn’t get to on the agenda:

Student Council in the Middle School

  • Suggested by eighth grader Nat Markey at “Lunch with Student Council

Powder Puff

  • Need to hear what Ms. Noble says, but this is an event I’d (Nate Gordon) like have.

Bathing Suit dryer

  • Came up at previous meeting. Requested by Calvin Frye ’16 and Chris Lansill ’16 on behalf of the water polo team. Would be a useful machine to dry bathing suits quickly after practice.

Nick Hill

  • Coke mile.

Connor Murray ‘16

    • Connor has requested a petting zoo.
    • Faculty dog petting for exam week. Colleges do it.

Sophomore Class

    • Diversity day- needs to happen
    • Having it on a half day-> Wednesday or Saturday
    • Karam Foundation
    • Lady Cats instead of powderpuff
    • Lost and found email
    • List on board in reed, online, somewhere
    • Juice tasting @ lunch to see what one we should get rid of

Minutes for 10/2 (second meeting of the year)

Date: 10/2/15     Time: 7:30 a.m.     Location: P.A. Room

Member of the Student Council Present: Nate Gordon ‘16, Cody Cavanagh ‘17, Caroline Channell ‘18, Calvin Ticknor-Swanson ‘16, Kyle Doucette ‘16, Yuwei Cao ‘16, Sideya Dill ‘16, Natalie Aquadro ‘17, Leah Pezanowski ‘17, Nick Hill ‘17, Ellie Scott ‘18, Katie Most ‘18, Derrick Zhao ‘18, Natalie Romain ‘18, Glede Wang ‘19, Rachel Burke ’19, Robby Hill ’19, Catherine King ’19, Molly Solan ’19,

Faculty/Administrators Present: Mr. Hill, Ms. Noble, Mr. Spearing,

Topics are listed in the order in which they were raised.

Curfew Proposal

Raised by: Nate Gordon

Discussion: Nate and Kyle drafted a proposal to submit to administration that proposes junior boarders earning a later curfew with good dorm behavior. Proposal is in “In the Works” tab of website.

Decision: Nate will submit proposal to Ms. Noble.

Lunch with Student Council

Raised by: Nate Gordon

Discussion: Everyone agreed that this would be something very good to do.

Decision: Nate will send out survey to Student Council to see which day works best. Hopefully will happen sometime next week (week of 10/5).

StuBop Funds Charity?

Raised by: Mr. Spearing

Discussion: This is something that we should be thinking about, but don’t yet have to decide. List of potential charities, compiled by Mr. Spearing, is in the “In the Works” section of the website

Decision: Will be decided later in the trimester.

Spirit Week

Raised by: Caroline Channell

Discussion: We discussed a few of the details including which days should have which themes. Here are some notes: Preceding fall family weekend…19th-23rd… Football game under the lights that Friday…We need to publicize the week, specifically the themes, better…Reach out to middle school more…Twin day?…Williston apparel day that Friday?…Decade day?…Favorite Childhood characters day?…Class color day?

Decision: Student Council should coordinate with Mr. Spearing and the Activities Committee to really promote Spirit Week to make it fun.

Pep Rally

Raised by: General consensus

Discussion: If this is something we want to do, then it should be held on the Friday of Family Weekend before the football game that night. A few members of the Student Council will meet with Mr. Spearing to discuss if this is something that could happen/ we want to happen. If so, how?

Decision: Student Council group will meet with Mr. Spearing to discuss.

SAGE Dining

Summary: Ms. Derby from dining services came to the meeting and asked for feedback from us on the dining hall. Here are a few notes: Hot chocolate (last year’s machine broke, working on getting new one, hot chocolate bar coming up…To go cups…Hard to find the ketchup (Ms. Derby told us this would be fixed…Cranberry juice was reinstalled!…Water spout (right now there is just the small lever (Ms. Derby says that the machine would have to get rid of a drink to add the water spout… Adding another chocolate milk in place of 2%. (Probably not very possible)…Some stations create long lines (especially at dinner)…More vegetarian options-“how to be a vegetarian at Sage.”

Dance on night of Halloween

Raised by: general consensus

Discussion: Costume party…Haunted house?…Dances should be moved out of the StuBop. Moved into the gym?

Decision: Mr. Spearing is already planning a dance for that night. Activities Committee and Student Council will work with him in the next few weeks to figure out the best and most fun way to make this happen.

Zuzzy’s Cookie Dough Fundraiser

Raised by: Suzy Abreu ’16 (not on Student Council)

Discussion: Suzy would like for us to sell it as a fundraiser in the near future.

Decision: The Community Service club has this planned for November.

Community 5k

Raised by: Sophomore Class

Discussion: The sophomore class would like to put on a fundraiser 5k race (that would most likely happen in the Spring) Things to consider: open to general public or just the Williston community…Held on Williston XC course or another route?…Get sponsors?…Competition between classes?…

Halloween Dance/Location of Dances

Raised by: Sideya

Discussion: Mr. Spearing already has a Halloween dance planned. Other schools have been invited and a DJ has been booked. Here are a few more notes: Halloween…Dining hall ideal…Stu Bop…Gym may be too spacious… Costumes… Haunted on campus House-where?… Loomis, Suffield, Deerfield, Westminster, WMA, Ethel Walker, etc…Trick or treat stations on campus-on the quad-faculty houses?…Each class has different theme…Ticket money can go to charity…Make costume party a fundraiser

Homecoming

Notes: A homecoming has been scheduled—alumni have been invited.

Decision: Speak to Mrs. Cheney about when this will happen/how?

 Willy Snap Story

Raised by: Kyle Doucette

Discussion: Would it be possible to get a campus story, especially for Spirit Week.

Decision: Speak with Ms. Hanley from Office of Communications about the potential to set one up.

 Teacher Evaluations

Raised by: Natalie Aquadro

Discussion: The way that teacher evaluations are set up and the timing at which they are presented could be improved. Suggestions: have students fill them out when teachers write comments…Students need more time to do them (they shouldn’t just be something students do quickly at the end of a class)…The questions could be more effective.

Decision: We need to speak with Mr. Valine, Dean of the Faculty, to get a sense of what kind of flexibility he could have for revising teacher evaluations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proposal: Juniors earn slightly later curfew

2015-16 Student Council     Fall 2015     Proposal to Change Junior Curfew

This has been submitted to Ms. Noble and the administration for review.

Proposal: With good behavior, junior boarders can earn a slightly later curfew of 10:45 p.m. in place of the current 10:30 curfew.

At Student Council’s first meeting of the year, Senior Class Representative Kyle Doucette raised this issue. As a junior last year, Kyle said that he was annoyed by his curfew of 10:30 when Study Hall would often end a little past 10. This gave him little time to relax with the other members of the dorm at the end of each day. It also gave him little time to order food if he was hungry (this curfew change could benefit Easthampton business!) or do much of anything before his door had to be shut at 10:30.

Williston students have very demanding daily schedules, many of which leave little time for us to socialize in an unstructured manner with our peers. A few minutes at the end of each day, after two hours of focused studying, could be very beneficial for junior boarding students.

The Student Council’s proposal is to create a way for junior boarders to earn the right to have a slightly later curfew. We suggest that juniors should earn the later curfew if they go a full trimester without a Room Confinement (RC) or a Saturday Night Consequence (SNC). For example, if a junior boarder didn’t get an RC or SNC in the second trimester, he or she would get to have his or her curfew pushed back to 10:45 for the third trimester.

Senior boarders currently have an 11 p.m. curfew and we do not suggest any change to that or a way for juniors to earn an 11 p.m. curfew.

While we realize that this would be a relatively minor change, it is something that junior boarders would appreciate, and would make nothing but a positive impact on their daily lives.

Minutes for 9/18 Meeting

Date: 9/18/15     Time: 7:30 a.m.     Location: P.A. Room

Members of the Student Council Present: Nate Gordon, Cody Cavanagh, Caroline Channell, Calvin Ticknor-Swanson, Kyle Doucette, Yuwei Cao, Sideya Dill, Natalie Aquadro, Leah Pezanowski, Nick Hill, Ellie Scott, Katie Most, Derrick Zhao, Natalie Romain

Faculty/Administrators Present: Mr. Hill, Ms. Noble, Mr. Spearing, Mr. McCullagh

Topics are listed in the order in which they were raised.

  1. Williston 175 Water Bottles
    • Raised by: general consensus
    • Discussion: Where can the 175 water bottles that each student was given be used?
    • Decision: Mr. McCullagh: the water bottles can be used in the dining hall
      1. This was announced at that morning’s assembly.
  2. How to spend the funds from the StuBop (Student Council, along with all the students, gets to decide how 3% of StuBop sales is donated to charities)
    • Raised by: general consensus
    • Discussion: Senior Suzy Abreu requested that we donate to the American Diabetes Association
    • Decision: At our next meetings, we will need to decide whether we want to give to one charity or a few. We need to decide how frequently we will donate (each trimester, just once at the end of the year, etc…) Discussion to be continued at next meeting.
  3. Lunch with Student Council
    • Raised by: Nate Gordon
    • Discussion: At lunch someday, members of the Student Council will sit at a table and anyone can come up to us and give us suggestions, feedback, ideas, etc… We are in agreement that this is something that we would like to do. Our next step is to find the best time to do it.
    • Decision: We will work to find the best time.
  4. Will the StuBop be open longer?
    • Raised by: Caroline Channell
    • Discussion: We would like to have more options for food later in the day. Could mini boxes of cereal be put out for students?
    • Decision: Mr. McCullagh: we would like to have the StuBop open as long as possible, but it is for profit, so free cereal or snacks isn’t really an option.
  5. Swimsuit Dryer
    • Raised by: Brought to Student Council by senior Chris Lansill on behalf of the water polo and swimming teams
    • Discussion: What is a swimsuit dryer? A device some gyms have that dries one’s swimsuit (similar to a hand dryer).
    • Decision: They may reduce the amount of water on the floor of the locker rooms. They’re not cheap (around $1,500). The topic was dismissed, but it will be brought up at a future meeting because it is a useful device that swimmers and water polo players would actually appreciate.
  6. Pep rally
    • Raised by: Kyle Doucette
    • Discussion: This is something that many students have been talking about and think could be a good event for school spirit. Mr. Spearing suggested that the best time to have a pep rally would be the Friday of Fall Family Weekend before the football game that night.
    • Decision: This could be a new and unique event that could be very fun for all students. We will talk about it at the next meeting.
  7. More buses to away games
    • Decision: We need to find an away game that students would like to go to during a time when they have few commitments such as a Green Friday.
  8. Dance on night of Halloween
    • Raised by: general consensus
    • Costume party
    • Haunted house?
    • Dances should be moved out of the StuBop. Into the gym?
    • Decision: Mr. Spearing is already planning a dance for that night. Activities Committee and Student Council will work with him in the next few weeks to figure out the best and most fun way to make this happen.
  9. Whole school assassin
    • Raised by: Leah Pezanowski
    • Discussion: Assassin is a tag-like game that eventually results in one winner. Known to have been played at other prep schools.
    • Decision: Sounds like something that could be fun. Could be something we incorporate into Spirit Week.
  10. Later Curfew
    • Raised by: Kyle Doucette
    • Discussion: For junior boarders, a curfew of 10:30 is annoyingly early. It gives little time to do much of anything between when study hall ends and when juniors must have their doors shut.
    • Decision: Nate and Kyle will draft a proposal for a later curfew for juniors and present it at our next meeting.