An assembly was held in front of the Art Building on September 19th, where newly elected Personero Pablo Monsalve and the Student Council took their oaths of office.

The Student Council was introduced to The Columbus School community including middle and high school students, teachers and staff. People heard to a speech by Monsalve in which he communicated his objectives for the year.  

“It´s a dream come true. This is what I’ve pretty much wanted since kindergarden. It was really impressive to see all the students here, to have the feeling that I represent all of them,” Monsalve said.

Monsalve obtained 41% of the votes giving him the victory over his opponents Laura Santamaria and Maria Paula Jimenez. During his speech he recognized the people involved in his campaign including his parents, close friends and STUCO members.

“They knew how much I wanted to be a Personero. How hard I’ve worked towards obtaining that goal but they also knew that I had two very strong, social and kind opponents that were also really good prospects to become Personero,” Monsalve said.

The members elected to this year´s Student Council were: 9th grader Andrea Carmona, 10th grader Samuel Bocanument, 11th grader Alejandro Gómez and 12th grader Federico Caro.

“The hardest thing about being STUCO is negotiating with administration, students and with the proposals to meet everyone’s requirements,” Gómez said.

Caro has an extensive leadership experience. He has participated in approximately 20 model UN conferences, is the Secretary General for COSMUN and is working shoulder to shoulder with the Personero and other Student Council members.

“I’ve been in STUCO once before, in 8th grade, but now in 12th grade it’s totally different. Now I’m in high school and it’s really fun to work with the Personero who is also in my grade, so it’s going to be a really fun experience,” Caro said.

Monsalve and Gómez are currently working on a project concerning the school entrance, their main goal for the year.

“We want to let students enter walking, there are a lot of schools in Colombia that can do this. We don’t understand why the Columbus School is an exception,” Monsalve said.

Another goal of the Student Council is to bring students, teachers and administration together to improve the school.  

“It’s a time to unite, to start the year strong, and it’s definitely important to know who the people that are going to be representing are and who you are surrounded with,” Gómez said.