How do you two intend to lead the Council? Will you follow last year’s StuCo President Lily Noel (’19) and Vice President Caroline Harms’ (’19) lead?

Natalie Vann (NV): I would say that essentially we’ll be doing the same thing, which is just promot[ing] a really encouraging, nice environment for Student Council (StuCo) and we want to do the same. I think there will be some logistical changes to how we run our meetings to make them more efficient, but essentially the ethos of our meetings will continue to be working together and creating a positive environment.

Lucas Romualdo (LR): Efficiency is definitely something we need to focus on a little more this year because it did become a little out of control recently, so we’re going to clamp down on that.

How do you plan on incorporating everyone’s voices who aren’t part of the council?

NV: I think one of the main things that we’re definitely going try to do more is have more interaction with [our] classmates, so more class meetings, more times for students to be able to go to their reps and … tell them things they want to be changed. Another thing that we’re going to plan on doing is have the leaders of councils meet together, again to facilitate conversation between different student groups and to make sure that there is constant communication between the student body and these kinds of councils.

LR: So the StuCo Instagram we have not been using for about a year now, so I think bringing that back would be a really nice first step. Once we publicise what we’re doing more often, I think that will encourage people to communicate their concerns and their opinions more often.

What are your goals for this year? Any major reforms you’re thinking about?

LR: Right now we’re already working on renovations to the English and Social Studies pods and those are going ahead, we’re really excited to see how that turns out. The Social Studies pod will just be a furniture and lighting redo, and the English pod will be more substantive. I think we’re knocking down a wall. We just want to make the space to be a little more inviting. Right now … it’s not a great place to work, it’s not a great place to socialize. Our intent is to make it a little more like the learning commons in its lighting and its feel, if not maybe a little more studious.

NV: I think the goal is to really make it a nice place to study. We want to make it comfortable. Learning Commons[esque], but for working.      

What should people know about you?

NV: I’m very open and friendly. I love when people come talk to me, so whenever you see me in the hall, feel free to say ‘hi.’ I usually have a scrunchie on my wrist if you need to know who I am, I think that Lucas and I are really hard working, we’re excited to take people’s opinions and use them to better the High School and we’re just really excited to lead.

LR: I’m 100 per cent all in on making this year the most successful year StuCo’s had in a long time. I think we really, really want to ramp up our activities and really, really leave an impact on this school and that’s true in terms of academics, in terms of non-academics, school programs, in terms of school spaces. I think we want to extend our reach, and I’m really excited to hear what students have to say about our ideas and what ideas they might want to bring to the table.

What do you hope your legacy is?

NV: I hope that we do something that is established that we did it. I personally, I’m really excited to create a more positive, comforting, enjoyable environment in our school. I think that one of the things we always joke about, but is too true, is that people are very stressed and there is this overarching kind of feel stress and anxiety that is just rampant throughout our school. If I could do something to help students take the edge off or give them something that will help them enjoy themselves more, I would be really happy with what I’ve accomplished.

LR: I think when it comes to issues like with the code of conduct and advisory, these are two areas in which we’ve been given a lot of latitude and I really want to make sure that we make an impact, a real lasting impact on those throughout the year.

NV: Lucas and I have already been working to reform the code of conduct and … if we can really do that well and do it so it doesn’t have to be worked on for a decade that would be really great and would really show what we can do as a council and just as the leadership.