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The ARROW Mailbag |
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In response to Student Council’s handling of the Christmas Food Drive, The Arrow received 16 letters, more than we have ever received. Seizing on the opportunity to show that in a democracy everyone has a right to be heard, students from Ivana Fritz and Sean O’Donnells’ period 1 and 2 block wrote The Arrow. The Arrow regrets not being able to publish all the letters, and we hope this will not discourage students from writing. |
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Students need to talk to Student Council |
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In light of the recent food drive problems, as a member of Student Council there are a couple of things that I would like to address.
First and foremost for anyone who feels like they have been rudely treated or ignored by Student Council I apologize. As a Student Council we should be able to listen to everyone, even if we don’t agree with their point of view. However, students need to remember that Student Council members are only human. We make mistakes and like the rest of student body, we have bad days too!
Bearing in mind that we are people, lets discuss the different ways that one can approach their Student Council Representative when there is a problem. There are two ways of going about this communication process.
A. Yell in your representatives face and refuse to listen to an explanation.
Or
B. Politely tell them that you have some questions regarding a problem and listen to their response.
Though method “A” seems to be the more popular way of handling problems at FHS, if you really want to be taken seriously the “B” method is a far better approach. When you treat someone with respect there is a good chance that the favor will be returned.
We can only hope that the communication lines will become stronger between Student Council and the FHS student body. I can assure you that in the future competitions S.C. will make the rules clear from the beginning. Perhaps those of you who prefer the “A” method of communication will change your ways and opt for the more chivalrous technique.
If you don’t feel like you are being represented, talk to your officers and come to the next meeting. Students are welcome to observe and take part in discussions. Better yet, run in the next election. New faces and ideas are always welcome!
On a more spirited note, THANK YOU to all the classes who participated in the food drive. 4,600 plus items is unbelievable. It’s really neat to think of how many needy families our school will help feed this holiday season. Your generosity is commendable. It is obvious that we all know the gift of giving is much better then that of receiving.
Jr Class Secretary Katy DeJana.
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Student Council does not represent students |
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Recently, our first period sophomore block class invited members of student council to come and speak to us about the food drive incident. Three members out of the whole student council showed up. They were all seniors and only one of them, our president, knew anything about the food drive. We want to know why the student council didn’t send students who knew more about the food drive and students who represent the sophomore class.
When we spoke to the student council, they avoided our questions and kept saying we were giving the food drive a bad name by doing it for the wrong reason. Well, the sole truth is that many classes did it because of the competition. I don’t know if this is right or wrong, but the needy still get the food, which is what the food drive is all about. Next year, there probably won’t be as much food because block classes won’t bother to participate.
People don’t understand, it’s not about the breakfast. It’s about the student council not giving us the recognition we deserve. The way in which this incident was handled leads me to believe that we seriously need to consider whoever elected officials are and what they represent.
Sophomores Ryan Mcarthy, Seth Simonsen, Mike Brennan |
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Student Council elected, not granted office |
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We are concerned with how our Student Council handled the dilemma with the food drive. As representatives of the student body, they should listen to us and keep us well-informed. It is their duty to hear our opinions and relay them to our administration.
When concerned students tried to discuss the problem with our representatives they became upset and felt they were being treated unfairly. They then complained to our educators that we were harassing them. If you are going to suppress us, then get ready because we can give it back. Our class brought in over a thousand cans of food and we were not even recognized. That is being treated unfairly.
We feel in the future, student council should encourage the student body to express their feelings to them. They are our voice to the administration. Also, if the Student Council is sponsoring a competitive event, such as a food drive, they should take responsibility to inform people of the rules and regulations. A position on our Student Council is an elected office, it is not a granted position. We can just hope that the student body will not forget this injustice, come election time.
Sophomores Aaron Hadley, Levi Weaver, Michael Gill
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Student Council treats Sophomores as inferiors |
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Having Student Council visit our classroom Tuesday, closed one door an at the same time opened another on a much larger issue.
From my desk in the classroom during the discussion I witnessed the members of the Student Council constantly rolling their eyes at our sophomore class. Whether they saw issue as immature or overblown, the nature of their attitude was extremely insulting. This is a big deal to us and the Student Council is missing the point.
This is not about the food drive, nor do we care about the prize. Our concern is the lack of communication that occurred within the Student Council during our situation, and the fact that this could happen again with a much larger issue, effecting the whole school.
The role of Student Council is to listen and be our voice, but this only works with a group effort. We view Student council members as leaders and friends, but when they are unable to lead themselves, the Student Council loses sight of its objectives.
With all of their responsibility, and leadership it is not surprising that we look up to the Student Council as superior, but it is disturbing that they look at us as inferior.
Sophomores Jenny Granrud, Amanda Trodick, Savannah Veldez.
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Student Council needs to listen to students |
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The class of Mr. O’Donnell and Mrs. Fritz, period 1 and 2 block has an issue concerning student council and the Food Drive that we would like to share with the rest of the school. As everyone knows, around 4,000 cans of food were brought in through the participation of the students. As some of you know, due to miscommunication through the student council, problems arose concerning the contest part of the Food Drive.
The first concern that we have is the fact that the rules were not clearly stated in the announcements. Through questions and conversations with student council members we discovered that most the members were also unaware of the rules for the Food Drive. Due to this miscommunication, students of FHS participating in the Food Drive were not informed of the rules until the Food Drive was over.
When we asked to discuss the Food Drive concerns with the student council, they reassuringly accepted our offer. However, when the time came, only the president showed for the discussion. When asked, he went and found only two other members to join us. During the discussion, we got the impression that only one of the three there were actually involved in the Food Drive. We were also concerned that all three of them were seniors. Where were our sophomore representatives?
We are not upset that we did not win the breakfast; we are upset that we were not informed of the rules before the Food Drive started. Student council members were not representing us like they said they would. This is our school. We have the right to know what is going on. That is why we elect people from the student body to represent us. If they cannot handle the responsibility, they should not run.
Sophomores Jenna Rosswinckle, Norma Schlinger, Hannah Husted
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Student Council should learn from their mistakes |
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We would like to bring to your attention to the unfair circumstances surrounding this years food drive. This was a competitive food drive in which the winners would receive a free breakfast. Our class could care less about the breakfast, but there are other issues that must be addressed.
Student Council members didn’t announce any rules pertaining to the food drive until they were counting the food to determine a winner. Then the per capita rue was announced. We were told that only one member of the Student Council was aware of the rule. Why wasn’t it announced at the beginning?
Later that day Student Council members were confronted several times about the protest put on by our block class. Many were irritated by being harassed about the situation, while only one member was one-hundred percent sure of what was occurring. Isn’t it their job to voice the opinion of the student body and to take the appropriate action to solve the crisis? Didn’t we elect them for that purpose? If they can’t handle being confronted by their fellow students over something that they messed up, they shouldn’t be Student Council members!!! We were blamed for putting a negative appearance on this food drive and ruining the purpose of charity! Well how can that be, when we, a fifty student block class brought in 1,061 items of food, exactly one fourth of all the food brought in?
This will most likely effect next years food drive and the decisions that block classes make to participate. Have raised more food this year than in previous years. All that we asked for was a little recognition. Please consider these things in next years food drive.
Sophomores Dru Pidino, Jeremy James, Brandon Larson
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