South students have elected the 2024-2025 Student Council (StuCo) Executive Board: Claira Paul as the Student Body President, along with Chelsea Jacob, John Albrecht, and Iris Do as Student Body Vice Presidents, Paul said.

Over 670 students voted in this election, Mark Maranto, StuCo advisor and Assistant Principal for Student Activities, said. StuCo currently consists of members of the executive board that govern the entire student body, and a class board for every grade consisting of one president, three vice presidents, and two representatives per grade, Maranto said.

There are 57 members of StuCo, 29 elected students, the rest are appointed by Maranto. The elected students run meetings and oversee different planning committees.

In this executive board election, two students ran for President and six students ran for Vice President, Maranto said.

StuCo is a student-led organization at South that assembles school events and student activities year round such as spirit weeks, proposals to start new clubs, planning Prom, and so much more, Paul said.

“There’s a group of kids [in StuCo] that plan everything,” Paul said. “It’s a collaborative effort.”

There are no requirements, meaning anyone can run for StuCo, senior Tali Gankin, Class Vice President said.

While all members are responsible for planning of South events, such as planning pep rallies, Homecoming, assemblies, Food Drive, and Spring Fling, the elected members hold certain privileges such as determining event designs and themes, as well as  choosing fun spirit week trinkets that students will receive, Maranto said.

StuCo’s top priority is doing what is in South’s best interest, Maranto said. The goal is always to make school the best possible environment it can be for the students. This means organizing fun events for students to enjoy such as fireworks during the Homecoming football game, after school holiday activities to participate in, and exciting school dances, Maranto said. Since StuCo members are students themselves they are able to understand what celebrations South students want, Maranto said.

Being confident and able to get students excited are some of the many qualities that a StuCo member must have. As soon as the StuCo members have an idea, they put in all their effort to make it work, Paul said.

Paul loves that StuCo allows her to make students smile and be happy everyday.

“I love doing what I do because you get to see a smile on peoples faces, and they don’t know that you’re the reason” Paul said.