By Vikrant Sabharwal
The student leadership positions and their selected students for next year were announced earlier this week. Each year student leadership is advancing and having a more significant impact on the school community. New positions are being added this year, expanding the reach that the students can have with their work.
New Head Students
After a thorough application process, the Head Students that were announced for next year are Sofia Echaniz and Tara Ossiani, who are both entering Year 13. This is the second year that the position is being called ‘Head Students’ after the titles of ‘Head Boy’ and ‘Head Girl’ were removed last school year. BISB was looking to become more progressive with the terminology in the titles, as the previous titles were gender exclusive.
New House Captains
Adams: Sofa O and Gwen
Franklin: Arman and Ash
Harvard: Rohini and Greg
Jefferson: Lily and Madden
House Captains are in charge of cultivating school spirit and enthusiasm among students for school activities as well as hosting assemblies and sporting events. The four different houses (Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, and Harvard) compete with each other on the basis of house points. These house points are awarded for good behavior, hard work, kindness, winning competitions, and more. Prizes are awarded to students who contribute the most, second-most, and third-most points to their house. This motivates students to have a positive attitude in school both in and out of the classroom.
Prefects
As a new change recently made for next year, different prefects are assigned to different topics. Collectively, the prefects form a committee that hosts events and makes decisions about school and student affairs. They strive for student satisfaction in the school, with efforts such as proposing new rules and/or challenging existing ones.
Environmental: Erin
The role of the environmental prefect is to promote environmental initiatives around the school. Erin will look to raise awareness among students about the importance of sustainable habits as well. In the past, a focus on environmental issues has been largely lacking at BISB, so she will look to make it a more prominent concern at the school.
Julliard Arts: Ava S and Tamara
The role of these prefects is to promote art throughout the school, including encouraging younger students to get involved in art opportunities. They also look to have more art events and performances at BISB, to better showcase the artistic talent of the students.
Sports: Pablo and Ariana
The sports prefects are in charge of managing the different athletic events. Intraschool athletic events are a great way to bring different members of the school together by allowing students to interact with others they may not normally interact with. Their role also consists of attending sports games for the middle and high school where they can write and take pictures of the event.
Charities: Meredith and Madeline S
The role of the charity prefects is to organize school charities and connect the school with different charities and non-profit organizations. BISB is looking to increase its impact on supporting communities in and around Boston and build on many of the past charity projects that students have done. Past projects at BISB have included the winter clothing drive, food drive, and the Tanzania project.
Languages: TBD
There is also a prefect for languages, though the person for this role is yet to be determined. The role of the languages prefect will be to encourage language learning among the students through supporting different language events like the annual language quiz.
BISB is still looking for more applications for the peer mentor leadership position. If you are in high school, definitely consider applying!
The school’s administration and teachers have always been proud of the way that student leaders at BISB represent the school and serve as ambassadors. They are excited to see the kind of impact that these new student leaders will have next year. We will have another article soon featuring the unique plans of some of the different student leaders.
*If you have any questions about the student leadership positions, contact Ms. Megan Reilly at megan.reilly@bisboston.org.