Photo courtesy of Hillary Johnson

Student Council Members Attend Convention

Members of the St. Joseph’s Academy Student Council participated in the Louisiana Association of Student Councils (LASC) Convention, held January 16-18 at Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport. This year’s convention theme was Soaring to New Heights.

“It was so exciting to be in a gym full of 1,000 students who have as much enthusiasm for their schools as we do.” Sophie Palombo '11

SJA was among the schools receiving the Gold Honor Council Award, the highest recognition a council can receive. The award is given to superior student councils to honor their service to school, community and the LASC. SJA also received an award of recognition for its support of LASC’s state charity, Shriner’s Hospital. SJA’s Student Council donated $1,000 from dance and Challenge Day proceeds.

Senior Laura Fontenot serves as District III secretary; junior Megan St. Germain was elected as the new secretary for next year.

In addition to elections and informative workshops, council members enjoyed a number of competitions. Fontenot entered the photography contest; junior Ellie Tumminello and senior Hillary Johnson participated in the friendship haiku writing contest; and juniors Sophie Palombo, Claire Karam and St. Germain entered the video commercial contest. Convention attendees also enjoyed a dance held Sunday night at the Sci-Port science discovery center in downtown Shreveport.

“LASC was a great opportunity for our Student Council to collaborate with other councils from across the state,” said co-moderator Amanda Hebert. “Our girls always come home from LASC with new ideas for our school as well as new friends.”  

Fontenot said the convention was jam-packed with activities and fun. “We went to idea exchanges with other schools, visited a variety of workshops and spent time with about 1,000 kids from all over the state who were just like us,” she said. “The idea exchanges gave us a lot of ideas about fundraising and different events that we could bring back SJA. I can’t explain how exciting it is to spend time with so many people who are just as excited about their schools as we are.” 

“I’m pretty sure that all the girls had so much fun at LASC,” Palombo said. “We learned so much from all of the students from schools across Louisiana and hopefully can apply these ideas to our Student Council. We had some outstanding guest speakers who came to talk and were really motivating. Captain Shreve High School did an awesome job putting on the whole convention. It was so exciting to be in a gym full of 1,000 students who have as much enthusiasm for their schools as we do. We had a blast.”

St. Germain said she enjoyed the opportunity to meet with like-minded high school students “to collaborate on ideas on how to improve school, fundraising mechanisms and boosting school spirit, as well as many other topics. I’m planning on bringing the ideas mentioned at the convention back to our council as well as the enthusiasm we had during the convention. We had many keynote speakers who talked to us about leadership, and they were very motivational. It truly was one of the best conventions I have ever participated in, and I cannot wait for Summer Workshop in June.”

Karam said the convention was a memorable event. “We were privileged enough to experience many wonderful things,” she said. “We heard from extremely influential speakers, exchanged ideas with other students about what works in our student councils and learned about many key issues in Louisiana schools today. I will always remember my experience at LASC workshop and the wonderful bonds that we were able to make throughout the journey.”

Tumminello agreed. “We spent time with many other students from all over Louisiana, and it was so awesome to see how alike we all are because we all enjoy trying to better our schools,” she said. “Also, we discussed our different activities about service, fundraising and overall school spirit, and seeing the different ways to achieve one main goal really stood out to me.”

Junior Kathleen Peek said the weekend was filled with leadership-enriching speakers and workshops. “We got to meet lots of new people and exchange ideas with them,” she said. “It was invigorating and empowering to see so many other students excited about their schools and being on student council as much as we are. Also, it was so much fun to bond and spend time with the girls on our council at SJA.”

Junior Mary-Katherine Montes de Oca said she brought home a number of great ideas. “It was interesting to see how each school did different events, and they gave us many ideas for the future,” she said. “It was great to meet people from all over the state who love student council. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to go on this convention, and I know that everyone else had a great time bonding with each other and learning more.”

Junior Adele Wiggins said she especially enjoyed the opportunity to learn what it takes to be an effective leader. “We also had the chance to interact with many other school representatives and listen to amazing speakers,” she said. “I really enjoyed spending the weekend with and growing closer to my fellow junior reps. We had a blast.”

Co-moderator Tori McRoberts also accompanied the group to Shreveport.


Mindy Brodhead Averitt
Communications Director