New changes will be made to Pinewood’s student leadership in order to boost school spirit and participation; both the grade councils and the Student Leadership Council (SLC) will be adapted from this year, in order to become more inclusive and open to everyone.

“I wanted to make sure each person on council… could take ownership over their jobs and responsibilities,” Director of Student Life Kyle Riches said. “I looked at what the current positions and the needs were of the school and the council, and it made sense to combine a few.”

In order to make SLC more recognizable, the name will be changed to the more nationally recognized acronym of Associated Student Body (ASB). ASB’s positions of Secretary and Sports representative have been rebranded to the Panthers Relations commissioner and the Culture and Community commissioner. 

“What was the secretary’s job this year was getting absorbed into the vice president’s,” Riches said. “The jobs and responsibilities of the student council aren’t disappearing, they’re just getting realigned.”

The grade council’s Sports representative has also been adapted into the Culture and Community representative position. The Culture and Community commissioners were added to both ASB and grade council to create a closer communicative connection between leadership and the community. The new position of Treasurer has also been added to ASB in order to improve the organization of the financial accounts of student council and Upper Campus’s fundraising. These new additions to the student council are aimed toward achieving greater inclusivity and student connectivity.    

“My job is to make sure everyone has fun here,” Riches said. “I want to make sure there’s opportunities for that to happen consistently throughout the year.”