STUCO elections were held in The Columbus School Elementary School in September with the goals of making student voices heard and preparing tomorrow’s leaders.

Representatives elected for the 2016-2017 school year in elementary school are Maria Correa from 5th grade and Gregorio Velez from 4th grade. Both representatives have set goals and look forward to achieving them.

5th grade elections went very smoothly, according to Benjamin Light, 5th grade teacher and elementary STUCO coordinator.

Correa and Velez, have a lot of ideas for recess in order to make sure everybody is happy and healthy by the end of recess.

“We plan to make it a safer place by having each grade have their own field, unless grades want to play together. We have already asked people for their opinion about what they think we should improve,” Gregorio Velez, 4th grade STUCO president, said.

In elementary school each student is eligible to be elected as a representative. Prospective candidates wrote a letter of interest, and students voted for the candidate they preferred. Candidates prepared a video that was shown to the entire grade and the student body voted based on these videos. As a result, two presidents were elected.

“It was really hard for me in a lot of aspects because we had to have a lot of good ideas in order to convince the other people. Also, there were other four kids trying to win the presidency,” Maria Correa, 5th grade STUCO president, said.

Presidents, representatives and anyone else who is interested, gather every Wednesday during lunch to discuss current or upcoming projects.

“There are three students working with Adriana Jaramillo and the foundation about mercadito. Some changes will be made to mercadito like tracking how much merchandise is brought in, and ways to get more in,” Light said.

Student council is working on creating strategies to achieve their goals, but are focusing on teamwork to be able to accomplish all their projects more efficiently.

“Some students will take charge of updating the lower elementary bulletin board; they are currently working with the principle to see what is needed,” Light said.

STUCO is the organization that ensures and guarantees the participation of students in the governance of the school.

“Some of the functions that STUCO has, are to reflect upon the political situation that takes place in the institution. Additionally, they carry out all types of initiatives that touch the community, in its daily life and educational aspects,“  Juan Carlos Ledezma Pito, STUCO  advisor, said.