Kid President Holds Sandy Accountable

Last trimester, we decided that we needed a student council to allow our youth to have more voice in several different aspects of program. We called our student council Kid President Council and opened the positions to our kids. Each group had to pick two students to represent them starting the second trimester. The kids who were interested had to come up with a campaign and persuade their peers to vote for them. They came up with slogans such as, "Good Food = Good Moods. Vote for Adrian!" At the end of two very long weeks we had eight members. 

Since starting our Kid President Council the eight youth involved have been quite excited and active when it comes to the tasks we set out to accomplish. 

In our initial meeting we established that they would come up with a field trip, a snack, and choice time options. After the first meeting the members left with the task of coming up with a field trip they and their peers would like to go on. 

Each pair brought two trips to the second meeting that they had chosen in their group, the other council members voted, and soon we will be taking a bus field trip to the aquarium! At the end of the second meeting the kids were tasked with coming up with one snack they would like to eat during program. 

When the day came to meet we did not have all members present so Sandy decided to postpone the meeting. The council members that were present made sure they kept Sandy accountable and gathered to meet two days later after Sandy had forgotten to reschedule the meeting. They spent an entire afternoon looking up prices and quantities, running back and forth from the kitchen to the office, asking all the right questions about dietary restrictions and attendance to make sure they did not order things we already had or could not serve. That Friday three council members took it upon themselves to order snack for the program for an entire week and stayed within budget!

By Sandy Quispe, Site Manager at St. Stephen's