After the election of the Student Council, the Spirit of St. Louis had the chance to interview Stefania, Co-Head Student, to learn more about what takes place behind the scenes.

Hello, 

Stefania: Hello,

So, we wanted to ask you a few questions regarding the Head Student position and why you chose to apply…Firstly, why did you apply for this position? Do you have any past experience being a leader?

Stefania: Ok, so I applied for this position mainly because I like to lead and to be part of what goes on behind the scenes. When I moved here I saw a lot of room for improvement, and also a lot of potential, so I decided to apply for Head Student because I felt like I had a lot of experience from leading in schools in the past.

In my old school, I was Head of House so I didn’t just want to be Head of House because I had already done that a few times. I thought Head Student would be a new experience and also a good opportunity to do something that I know how to do, but there are also certain aspects that I thought would be good to acquire in this position.

So, you know, I have fun, and I think it’s a great opportunity to do something outside of school work, but also it influences everyone and I think it improves, I hope improves, everyone’s experience at school. 

And the next question is, what’s your favourite part of working in the Student Council?

Stefania: Umm, to be honest, a lot of the fun working in the Student Council comes from hearing everyone’s ideas and trying to find a compromise. It sounds like a hard thing, and it is a hard thing, but I like challenges and I think trying to find everyone’s perspective on a certain thing you want to do, whether it is the house competition organisation or changing something about the school. Hearing everyone’s opinion and then working together to find a solution that works best for everyone, I think that’s the most fun. And also, seeing the impact it has on students is quite fun because you feel proud of yourself for organising something like that.

That’s very interesting, so you would say that you have faced a few challenges while working in the student council?

Stefania: For sure, for sure. I think every time we have a meeting or something needs to be organised, there’s always a challenge. Right now, obviously, with COVID there’s a lot of things we can’t do, so the challenge is trying to find something that we can do. There’s also challenges within communication, and making sure that everyone’s tasks are assigned and everyone knows what they are doing. It’s also challenging to make sure that everyone actually does what they’ve been delegated to do, trying to figure out tasks that suit people better and obviously delegating. But, you know, challenges are fun.

We know the IBDP keeps us very busy, so we want to ask, does the work in the Student Council take up a lot of your time? If yes, how do you manage it?

Stefania: Ok so, it definitely takes up a bit of my time, and I think being Head Student takes up more time than the other leadership positions because you need to listen to the students, note down ideas, sort them through by yourself and cancel out the ones you know won’t work out in these circumstances. Then you have to go and present them to the teachers, get the feedback, and you know there are a lot of plots that go behind the scenes that I think a lot of people don’t see… so it takes a lot of time.

But, the most important thing I think is time management; you have to plan out your time well, and the way I usually do it is that I give myself the afternoon. For example, from 2:15 to 4:30 is my study and academic time. So whether that’s doing homework or doing the student council I try to get that done from 2:15 to 4:30 and then from 4:30 that’s my free time. So you do have free time, I don’t spend day and night working on Student Council and academic work!

So, talking about time management, are there any long-term goals or projects that you would like to work on as part of the Student Council?

Stefania: Ok, definitely the thing I want to work on while being the Head Student is the house system, and to a lot of people it sounds pointless because I don’t think they’ve seen what a house system can be. In my old school it was a really big thing, and it was literally a house that you would find like home, and I want to replicate that. Obviously, we have different facilities, different circumstances, different schedules… so it’s much harder to manage, but it’s just small steps and over time I think it can develop. I hope that in these two years we can start those steps and then find a way for this to continue even after we leave…

And lastly, are there any events coming up that you would like to tell us about?

Stefania: Ok so, the next event would be the house debating competition, in which the houses go up against each other in a tournament. That will happen before Christmas, and then the last week before the Christmas holiday we will have a Christmas Fair, where there will be a lot of stalls organised by the Student Council. Money will be raised for charity, but it’s meant to let people have fun, so there will be fun games. It will be a chance for people to spend time with their house, as people will go down to the Christmas fair in their houses, so you get to know different people as well. And that’s the plan until Christmas.

Next week we will publish our interview with Gabriele, Co-Head Student