Bridget Ryan

Student Council

 

     Being a part of Student Council has been an incredible learning experience for me.  As a sophomore I was the Secretary, and as Secretary I was in charge of taking notes.  This taught me to pay very close attention to detail, as I was the one who was referred to when the President needed a reminder of when a date was, the price of something, etc.  As a junior, I was the Co-President of Student Council, and this made me take on more responsibility than ever before.  It was an interesting experience to be a co-leader with someone that I wasn't very close friends with before.  It helped teach me more cooperation skills, as I had to work with her to figure things out and do things in a different way than I would normally do.  

     As a senior, I am now the President of Student Council.  As President, I am in charge of reminding members about meetings, figuring out details for upcoming events, finding new and innovative ideas, fundraising, and giving other members responsibility to help contribute.  For example, this year Student Council was given the challenge of increasing school spirit.  To do so, we began tailgating at football games and selling apple cider doughnuts to any interested students.  We also began announcing super fan themes for volleyball games.  Just in one season alone, the student section at volleyball games has improved immensely.  Not only that, but the participation during homecoming week has been better than ever.  We received quite a bit of feedback from teachers and members of the community saying that this past year's homecoming was the best one yet.  In addition to all of this, this year we helped raise over $1,000 for Ethan Lane, a recent Dakota graduate who was suffering from several serious medical problems.  I have been in charge of announcing all of these such things on the student council Twitter page.

     I have also participated in every fall convention and spring convention offered during my high school experience.  These have helped me to branch out to Student Councils at other schools and learn more about what they do.  Throughout my years in Student Council I have been everywhere from the bottom of the food chain to a member of the Executive Board.  I have dealt with an extreme lack of participation from members to incredibly eager members.  I have done just about everything from unpleasant, time consuming tasks to advertising jobs.  This overall involvement in Student Council has helped leadership qualities come forth and has taught me how to be a team player, rather than just a demanding leader.  I have learned to lead by example from Student Council.