Student Council may often feel like a secretive committee whose role remains a mystery to the rest of the student body, but they are actually more transparent than many students think.

Led by the Dean of Students, David Koritkoski, Student Council meets in the PA room every Thursday before the beginning of the school day. Student Council works together with the Dean’s Office to advocate for student life, including, but not limited to, more equitable dorm and dress code policies.

It consists of the current Student Body President, Isabel Baxter-Paris, a four-year senior day student from Longmeadow, Mass., along with four class representatives from each grade.

As Class President, Isabel believes Student Council is an important group of committed leaders who have students’ best interests in mind.

“As the senior class president, I have the privilege of overseeing a dedicated and passionate group of student leaders,” she said. “With the help of the other senior class officers, I set the agendas for each meeting and help keep the group on track as we advocate on behalf of our peers and work to enact meaningful changes that benefit our community.”

Student Council’s most notable accomplishments this school year have been their collaboration with the dining hall staff to introduce healthier food options, their organization of class socials (such as Homecoming and Senior Sunrise), and their mobilization of the most successful student fundraising campaign in memory of Elise Ollmann-Kahle.

Each year, Williston holds elections. In late April, each grade elects four class representatives, apart from the rising Senior class, which elects an additional candidate for Class President. Although it is uncertain when Student Council was established, several members believe it has been active for around 100 years.

Alyssa Matricciani, a four-year senior from Greenville, S.C., joined Student Council to improve student life and the Williston experience.

“I have many opinions about the administration, school spirit, and different things that I believe can be improved upon,” she commented. “And I think student voices are a really powerful way to do that. So, by joining Student Council, I found that was a way to help remedy some of the issues.”
Alyssa highlighted Student Council’s facilitation of the Elise Ollmann-Kahle Memorial Fund as a remarkable achievement.

“Doing the 2025 class memorial scholarship fund for Elise was really powerful to remember our classmate. We got over 100 donors…in years past, their goal was like 80 kids. And I thought that was really cool to just see everybody come together, so I’m really proud of that,” she said. In all, the fund has raised around $60,000. in the span of two months.

Quin James, a four-year senior from Florence, Mass., believes Student Council is the “bridge between student and administrator” that brings people’s concerns to light and facilitate change, “not just for our class but for the entire community.”

“It’s great to be able to make changes for the student body and also to be the first one to find things out,” Quin said. “For example, I’m on the revamp Reed committee right now, so I get to work directly with the architects on making a renovation of Reed that will outlast me for decades and decades.”

However, believes there are days when it does not feel like all victories, and the Council has to pick and choose their battles.

“It’s a little bit more difficult because obviously we can’t get what we want 100% of the time … You want to make these really positive changes and sometimes they don’t work for financial reasons or for practical reasons,” he said.

At a meeting I attended on April 17, Student Council members proposed several new initiatives. One idea brought up was a day student Reach “Sign in/Sign out (SISO)” system. The idea was proposed to allow day students to leave campus in their cars during the class day without both a dean’s and a guardian’s approval. The class representatives believed this would also encourage greater transparency and communication between day students and the administration regarding their location, since the inconvenience of the current system often results in its disregard altogether. This proposal was shut down.

There was another initiative centered on the idea of day students having designated spaces during the day, including being assigned a dorm, or using Conant, a former dorm which currently does not house students. It was not voted on.

Student Council is not as efficient as it could be for many reasons. Quin, however, believes that a more organized procedure to propose projects and initiatives could help create a stronger organization that would facilitate change on campus.

“If you look at other Student Councils at peer schools, or even at Northampton High School a few miles down the road, it’s a lot more structured, it’s filled with a lot more parliamentary procedure and a lot more of a centralized power than what we have here,” he said.

Alyssa’s freshman year in 2021-22, Koritkoski, among other administration members, would attend every Student Council meeting. However, last year, the seniors decided to limit faculty presence to maximize the power of student voice.

Although there are benefits to giving a platform to student representatives, “It’s just hard when we’re not responded to because, yeah, we’re student voices and administration probably thinks they have better things to deal with,” Alyssa said.

Recently, one of Student Council’s successes has been the dramatic changes in the dining hall, most notably the Protein Bowl station. The feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, thanks to Chef Chris Couchon’s efforts.

Alyssa praises Couchon for being “super open to any and all advice” and willing to “show up to meetings whenever we invite him.” Couchon is passionate about benefiting the student dining experience, and Alyssa believes that “[Student Council would] be more effective if everyone was like Chef Chris.”

Student Council is an important organization in every high school, as it provides a platform for student voices. She highlights that the voting process and the nominees elected by each class are equally as important. However, Alyssa feels that some students do not take Student Council seriously.

“You know, a lot of people just go on Student Council because they’re like, ‘Yes, college apps,’ and some people don’t show up to every meeting,” she said. “How are we supposed to be effective with that? No wonder people think this council doesn’t do anything if the people you’re electing aren’t showing up to meetings. You want to elect reliable people.”