The CVHS student council elections have passed and the new representatives are president Allie Rossmiller, VP Rakesh Oberoi, Treasurer Michelle Nguyen, Secretary Miriam Yampuler, senior reps Karl Galeas and Malika Top, junior reps Zhenra Mirza and Justine Terrill, sophomore reps  Nicholas Le, Karytikeya Gullapalli, Karla Galeas, and freshmen reps Sebastian Le, Angelina Nguyen.

While a new student council always shows promise of changes on campus, a survey taken by 48 CVHS students shows that CVHS students want the student council members to work on better communication between the students and teachers, less homework, and more dances. Overall, the survey reveals students want to have more beneficial communication with the staff about school-related problems. 

According to Assistant Principal Juan Garner, the student council was one of the first clubs active at CVHS, and one of the longest-lasting clubs.

“It was here before me it’s always been around pretty much every school has a student council. Think that kind of comes with school because it’s always been around” Garner said. 

The role of the student council varies between who you ask at the school.

“I guess it’s the middleman between the school administration and the student body. If you have a recommendation, go see your student council rep so they can bring that up to the student council body and in the student council. If they think it’s something important then they go up to the next level to take it to the administration. That would be the ideal function of the student council, it does not automatically work that way, but that’s the ideal role” Garner said.

When Upstream News asked student council candidates, some weren’t able to answer clearly what the role of the student council should be.

“I think the role of student council should be to best support CVHS’s student population in a way that allows them to feel like their decisions or opinions can be heard by management,” said sophomore representative Nicholas Le.

The survey revealed that some students expect the student council to plan events or benefit the students. Some expressed that in past years, the student council has been more successful, whereas nothing has been accomplished in other years.

“I think the student council for some of the kids is a checklist to put on their resume for colleges,” Garner said.

In the past, the student council has brought many new events and ideas to Carnegie and has impacted the school and the students in various ways.

Past representatives Mr. Garner has recognized were Carl Willis, one of the presidents at the old Carnegie campus, and Nato who came up with the idea of off-campus student lunch. CVHS student councils from other years also instituted the annual zoo field trip, volleyball tournament, and some of the dances and events throughout the year.

Most of the students at CVHS aren’t aware of the things the student council does, and even 5% of the 48 students who took the survey didn’t even know CVHS had a student council.

95% of 48 students who took the survey knew about the student council. They think the student council doesn’t do anything or only organizes dances. 

When Upstream News talked to the students running for representatives, they said they would try to implement a lot more tutoring, different programs, or clubs that are sponsored and implement study guides for every teacher on campus.

This new student council is jump-starting its year with a teacher-student kickball tournament to raise awareness for breast cancer awareness on October 23.