Q: How does it feel to be Senate president?
A: It’s great, I really love it. I was really nervous about getting onto the Senate at first so in order to capture my classmates’ attention I actually filmed my speech with me in a plastic boat in my pool. Luckily it worked. But I’m very excited, so far the meetings we have had have been great! It’s nice to work with such a great group of people who are excited about making a change.
Q: Have you had any prior experience?
A: I was on the student council at my old school and I was in the Senate last year. After Phuong (the President from last year) left I became president for the last couple of months. I learned a lot. I kind of think of it as my first try and now I’m able to come back and do an even better job.
Q: What motivated you to be in the Senate?
A: I’ve always been a very shy person, someone who was afraid of saying the wrong thing and didn’t want to say when something was wrong. So I wanted to try something different. Try and do something where I had to voice my opinion, take charge and do something about the problems we were facing at UNIS. I’m really enjoying it so far and glad I took the risk.
Q: Would you recommend students to join?
A: The Senate is great for people who have a lot of ideas, are motivated, creative and just love the school. People shouldn’t be afraid to voice their opinion, take charge and are leaders. You learn a lot and you get to work with different people.
Q: How do you deal with all your schoolwork and responsibility that you now have?
A: I’m super organized and I work really hard! I actually don’t consider the work from the Senate as extra work but more as a hobby, something I do because I love it. I also think it’s great that as a Senate we can work with people from Grade 9, 10, 11 and 12. You get to know people that you wouldn’t have known otherwise.
Q: What are your plans for this year?
A: This year one of the things we want to aim for is raising school spirit. We want everyone to have a great time and remember high school at UNIS as exciting and fun. We are already planning the Talent Show but at working towards creating something called a ‘Happy Tree’, Spirit Week and having random lunchtime events.
Q: What are your goals?
A: Everyone deserves a great high school experience, and I want to try and achieve this. We need to have more fun, and as a Senate not just sticks to the things those we always do and plan. I’m sure this year we will achieve great things! I’m already super proud of everyone so far for the amount of work they have been putting in. We’ve already been setting goals for this year that I’m very excited about.
Q: How do you act upon the student’s requests?
A: We ask students to tell the Senators in their homerooms about their ideas and requests. These ideas are discussed in the meetings and a plan is constructed. This year we have also set up a new Facebook Page called ‘UNIS HS Senate’ where we encourage everyone to join! Students will be able to see updates about what is happening and have the opportunity to vote, comment on and see everything that we are doing.
Q: What would be the hardest event to plan?
A: I think the High School Prom will require a lot of planning and may require a separate Prom Committee.
Q: What is it like to work with the new principal?
A: Mr. Kennedy is very easy to talk to! He listens to you and is very keen on helping you. We all feel very comfortable talking to him about the ideas we have for this year and the future. We work very closely with the High School Principal and it is important that we can talk to them about anything.
