Student Council

At MAELS, the student voice is elevated and leadership is fostered throughout the school and classrooms. The MAELS Student Council was founded in 2008, which was the same year that MAELS first opened its doors to students. It is comprised of student leaders from grades 6 to 8 who work hard to promote school spirit and encourage community involvement.

“To me, Student Council is not just an afterschool club, but a place where I can work with my peers to improve the MAELS community,” says Arijeta Demorovic, the Student Council Secretary. “Here we build on each other's ideas in order to get the best out of each school year.” 

The Student Council provides a place for student leaders to talk about issues that arise in the school and to find ways to resolve them. This year, students had numerous discussions on how to improve the school community and promote a culture of kindness and acceptance within the MAELS community.

“The best thing about the Student Council is that the students work hard to maintain a positive school culture,” says Ms. Balestriere, “they’re always trying to find ways to encourage their peers to speak out.” 

When asked about what made them join the Student Council, the student leaders expressed several reasons. 

“I was in the Student Council last in 5th grade and I enjoyed my time there! I want to help others. I want them to know they can come talk to me and be friends with me as well, ” says 6th grade Sylvia Avila.

“We want to raise awareness to those who don't have a voice, or are too shy to have a voice,” says JM Mata, the Student Body Co-President. 

From the various school spirit events they organize, to the day to day interactions, the Student Council finds ways to lighten the mood of students through events such as School Spirit Week.

“As a student, I feel very excited and involved in Spirit Week since we all take part in it by dressing up depending on the day, which is by far my favorite part!” says Arijeta.

The Student Council also provides opportunities for students to maintain their well-being and provide an environment that promotes collaboration as the group strives to make the school a better place.

“The Student Council works to uplift others by making sure everyone feels comfortable in the community,” says Sylvia. 

“I just want everyone to know that they're not alone, especially during this pandemic,” says Study Body Co-President Aidan Accornero.

This year, the Student Council has done a lot of work to promote inclusion and celebrate diversity in the MAELS community. 

“The Student Council works hard to plan events and create learning opportunities for the community to come together,” says Victoria Stepanova, the 6th grade Representative. “For example, we had Respectful for All Week, which encouraged the MAELS community to continue being respectful to one another and to bring awareness to the individual identities of our community members.” 

“For April’s Autism Awareness Month, we helped to lead the ‘Learn With Kindness’ Campaign,” said Arijeta. “Autism is even more common in our world than people care to mention, and we raised awareness and support of this to fellow community members.” 

Currently, the MAELS Student Council is actively planning a June celebration for pride month. 

“Our upcoming plans for the Student council is Pride Month in June. We will be celebrating and creating opportunities for everyone to better understand LGBTQ community,” says Riley Ohanlon, the 7th Grade Representative.  

“We want to include and actively show acceptance towards other and different communities from our own,” says Summer Johnson, a 6th grader. 

Each year, the Student Council runs a campaign for the Executive Board positions and grade representatives. Executive Board members (president, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) are all 8th grade positions. 6th and 7th grade will each have a class representative. The election is held in November around Election Day. 

“Running for the election was fun and made me feel very confident in myself,” says Arijeta. “Although creating the speech and posters was not easy, the process was fun and made me feel important. I knew I was being bold just by running!”

“Running for an election is definitely a challenge, “ says JM Mata. “But, to those who want to elect, I want to say that you can do it! Don’t be afraid because you won’t know unless you try.” 

Students who are interested in running for next year’s election should reach out to Ms. Balestriere or Ms. Wynn for more information. Students who are not elected to a position or not interested in running for a specific position may still join the Student Council as a student member. 

“As a student leader, I can now see that having a loud and heard voice is so important, even when it’s not specifically you who wants something,” says Arijeta. “Having that loud voice gives you the ability to speak for other people who do not have the courage to speak for themselves, which is why we should all be striving for one.”

“We always need more student voices!” says Ms. Wynn. 

The Student Council meet on Tuesdays from 2:30PM to 3:30PM. For more information about the MAELS Student Council, reach out to Ms. Balestreire at [email protected] or Ms. Wynn at [email protected].