"It is a good way to have a say about what goes on with school. I wanted to be pro-active about high school," is the explanation Eric Cabral gave for taking on the role of Vice President of the Mount Saint Agnes Academy School Council.

President Caroline Berlo was motivated by a desire "just to get the school spirit going."

Unlike other local schools, MSA does not have prefects with responsibilities for helping with the running of the school on a daily basis — no lunchtime supervision, no bus stop duty, no field patrol.

They do, however, have an elected Student Council responsible for planning charity events, grub days, dances, games nights and the like.

At the end of each school year, classes from Grade 9 to Grade 12 elect class representatives to sit on the Council — this year there are 16 in total.

From those, a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer are elected by the Council members.

To be eligible for President, a student must have sat on the Council for two years. Caroline represented her classmates in Grade 9 and Grade 11, making the 12th Grader eligible for the position of President.

The Council has a budget and uses funds generated from events like dances to fund future events.

They are also responsible for using the $10 'class duty' levied on each high school student to purchase gifts for the principal and teaching staff at Christmas.

While most of the matters the Council deal with are social, Caroline pointed out that they can act as a representative body to approach the principal with student concerns and issues.

Although their power to effect change is limited, acknowledged Eric, "What we say can generate new ideas. We can't change people a great deal, but we can change their ideas slightly, and make things better."

"We're here for anyone to talk to about their problems," he went on, "and to bring students and the administration closer together. If there are class-wide issues, we can help solve them."

Caroline enjoys serving on the Council because, "I like to have a voice for somebody if something's wrong.

"I enjoy organising the fun events because school spirit is important. I feel school spirit has been limited, and in this generation people tend to stick to their cliques."

For this reason she is happy to organise fun events to encourage students to get involved in their school.

The next event they're planning is a dance on which they hope will be a welcome addition to the student calendar.

In her capacity as President, Caroline makes sure the council's weekly meetings start on time and run smoothly, and that social events are well-organised.