What STUCO Did For Me and What It Can Do For You

Demonstration of a DP CAS Project

A creative engagement of students in the IB Diploma Programme is an experiential Creativity, Activity, and/or Service learning project. This authentic project-based-learning experience is one that best shows the stages of investigation, collaboration, preparation, action and demonstration. The following is from the MBIS Student Council President of 2016-17.

What STUCO Did For Me and What It Can Do For You

By: Aranya Dhall, DP2

After over a year of being appointed as Student council president, I feel that the experience has been one of the most engaging and fulfilling experiences in my time in this school. Leadership and public speaking have always been something I have been passionate about and I felt that by applying for the position of student council president, I had the opportunity to put my communications skills to use and bridge a gap between faculty and students to work towards a more cohesive school community.

It has been a whirlwind learning experience that involves a lot of planning and communication with a variety of age groups that challenged me and would further develop my people management skills, planning skills and problem solving abilities in a diverse environment. It also gave me an opportunity to interact with the different age groups in school, both MYP and PYP who I don’t usually get a chance to interact with as much since I have entered the Diploma Program.

By the end of the year we had the Tuck shop up and running, a system in place developed alongside the treasurer of the student council and a handbook for future student council members to refer to. The budgets and access to funds were set, proper storage of bills, money and a safe were organized in a concise way and involvement and cooperation between STUCO and administration had never been stronger. There were also a number events organized over the year with all members of the school community (in collaboration with the DP, MYP, PYP and the PTA).

The collaborative learning, development of new and old skills and my communication in formal settings has seen so much growth from our first event to the end of my term as Student Council President. I feel that I have learnt to become more conscious of my actions and how they effect others, learnt to take responsibility for my actions and by being a leader, taking responsibility for the groups actions that I am in charge of. I also learnt to come to terms with making difficult decisions that not everyone would like, but was necessary for the betterment of us as a team collective. The most fruitful for me however, has been getting to know my younger peers better. I have had such a good time bonding with, working as a team with them, learning from their opinions and points of view and being able to share experiences together where our ideas have come to successful fruition.

The opportunity to see the inner workings of the school by working with administration really makes me appreciate and better understand just how complex it is to operate a school. We often make comments or request criticizing the school without really understanding how much goes behind processing one request and bringing it into action. Personally, the interaction STUCO has provided have pushed to think twice before I make remarks and consider that it is not one person, but a group of people that have to work towards the same goal to make what you feel is right, better the school. I hope that my time as student council president has helped changed the school in some way, no matter how small and I hope that what I have shared with the school community encourages others to take leadership roles and play a bigger role in the school community. It is time consuming and often grueling, but the feeling of accomplishment when an event, or idea you are passionate about comes to life, all with the help of your peers is well worth it. By being an active part of school and working towards change in our school environment, shows you the value of teamwork and gives you a voice in your education, school life whilst facilitating the development of valuable skills you could use in the future.