FREE FOOD. Many students equate these two words with class councils. While we take pride in competing with Dining Services for the stomachs of University students, the mission of class councils does not actually revolve around pizza and barbecue.
The mission of the class council system, from First Year Council to the Fourth Year Trustees, is to develop, foster and maintain a sense of community, loyalty and responsibility among students toward their class. I won't lie -- free food is a better marketing tool than this mission. Yet it is that mission that sets the class council system apart from all other groups at the University. Designated as special status organizations, class councils provide a service for students, by students that the administration would otherwise be required to fulfill. For over three decades, class councils have worked to positively influence the lives of students in different ways.
This work starts within the first week of school, as first-year students are introduced to the idea of student self-governance through elections to First Year Council. First Year Council provides an amazing opportunity for first years to get involved at the University. The council gives first years a vote on student body issues through Student Council as well as the ability to plan events and programs for their fellow first years. Cookouts in the Old Dorm quad, Easter egg hunts on the Lawn and information sessions on interesting classes and good professors are just a few of the many programs First Year Council creates for fellow first years. This ideal of giving back to the class continues with the work of the Second and Third Year Councils.
As the adolescents of the Class Council system, these two councils excel at creating innovative programs for their respective classes. These two councils face a daunting challenge: improving and giving direction to the sometimes chaotic lives of second and third years. These are the years students define themselves at the University. From choosing majors to finding great summer internships, endless possibilities are placed in front of second and third year students.
Programs such as the Second Year Class Dinner Series, a series of five dinners attended by over 200 second years and professors, established Second Year Council's role as a conduit for student-faculty interaction. Third Year Council's Celebrating Excellence Dinner allowed members of the University community to nominate outstanding third years for recognition for their contributions to the University, no matter how large or small. These are just two of the over 50 events created for their classmates by each council each year.
Not all class council events are so large in scale. Small-scale programs such as resume workshops, mock case interviews and panels on graduate schools are just three of the many programs the Fourth Year Trustees hold to help fourth years face the unknown of life after the University. These programs are designed to provide resources for fourth years in their quest to for direction after graduation, even if this direction is leads to finding interesting and exciting places to visit in backpacking expeditions around Central America.
The trustees help fourth years plan for the future and, at the same time, work to provide one last amazing year for fourth years at the University. From casino nights to movie nights on the Lawn to escapades on the Downtown Mall, the goal of the Fourth Year Trustees is to make it more difficult for students to want to leave the University. The trustees also work with the fourth year class during the year to establish a class giving campaign. Designed to promote the idea of fourth years giving back to before they leave the University, the class giving campaign provides a means for monetary support of any group on grounds that fourth years hold close to their hearts.
700 words cannot do justice to the entire class council system, so I will try and do so in five: students giving back to students. Class councils work to fulfill the needs of fellow students, even if these needs boil down to pizza before a long night of studying at the library. Because, let's be honest -- who doesn't want free food?
Jordan Levy is Fourth Year Trustees president.
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