“I will build a pool at school,”

“I will replace ServiExpress with a McDonald’s,”

“The school will have its own metro cable,”

If this sounds familiar to you, then the student government probably came to your mind.

For many years, students around TCS have had the impression that the student council (STUCO) does not serve an actual purpose. Every grade level has had a candidate who ran their campaign on proposals they cannot keep. But later when it’s time to work, these candidates seem to disappear.

“For me, STUCO does not do anything, I have been at school for around 10 years, and not once in my lifetime have I seen the work they are supposed to do,” Raquel Isaza, Grade 9, said.

For as long as the student government has been present at school, many students have had the desire to participate in it, and as old as the program is, so are the lies that candidates tell to get elected. As years passed some proposals became so popular that now they seem like a joke. A big example is a famous quote “If you vote for me, I will build a pool on campus.” It is rumored, according to Sara Londoño, who was a 6th grader at the time, that this was first said by the personero of the year 2003. Some even claim that the lie goes as back as the old campus. Either way, lying to the students has always been a go-to option for all the previous candidates.

“Nowadays it’s just funny, watching the insane proposals that the representatives made have become a joke to me. At least from my point of view, that is why I don’t take elections seriously anymore,” Tomas Galeano, Grade 10, said.

Matters change for those who are representatives. After the candidates get elected, they realize that being a student representative is not what they might expect. Their main job is not to do proposals, but rather evaluate those new ones that are proposed by external students and the administration itself.

The Student Council is an organization, meaning, there are also leadership positions there. The most important leadership position is President and Vice-President those who get elected for this job are responsible for arranging reunions and taking part in some meetings of la junta directiva. Other positions are the secretary who has to write everything that is discussed at meetings. Plus the main duty that is to respond to their grade level, this means that if someone gets in trouble, and asks for a third opinion this means that it is the representative’s job to attend every meeting the accused has to attend and show his transparent opinion on deciding the final consequence. With this being said, a big reason why people question the importance of Student Government is that they don’t really understand what is their job.

“I mean it, being part of STUCCO is not easy, we do a lot of work just so students can criticize us for not doing our job when in reality is quite the opposite,” Eva Morales, student representative, said. 

After some time students realized that those promises had become more obvious and repetitive, questioning the actual role of all the student representatives. Most of the students believe that all the major changes in school are made by the administration and have no relation with student representatives.

Today, most students believe the student government is not efficient, but also the majority of students don’t know what the real job of a student representative making matters worse. The huge misconception actually is caused by the idea that the school itself gives about the student government.

The idea of the STUCO is first introduced in fourth grade where we learned that the student elected will be the voice and ears for the designated grade level, not necessarily making their proposals. When students reach middle school they are thought how the student government works as a whole, reinforcing the idea that STUCO is in charge of being the grade level’s voice.

The real reason why there is a big misunderstanding is the elective process itself, students who wish to be part of STUCO have to do a presentation with proposals, and the candidate with the best proposals will be elected. Because of the election process each year students are tempted to make proposals that they cannot simply keep, just to be elected as the representative, this also confuses students since they hope those proposals are done.

Representatives meet around once a week their job mainly is to review and have their voice on upcoming changes. Also, students must learn that they can make their own proposals possible, this can be done by a written document. After the proposal is submitted then it will be discussed by the student representatives, administration, and finally in “la junta directiva.” Most of the proposals actually are passed and reviewed so if you are discontent with something going on around the school don’t be afraid to propose your ideas.

“Although I had never been a representative, I love to take things in my own way and be involved in leadership roles. Students need to understand that if they want to change something at school they have to be proactive,” Senior, Angel Bernal, said.

“The school would be a better place if students could understand our job and also be more proactive when they want to change something,” Morales said.