Greenwood Elects Next Head Girl & Boy

During the week of April 23, the Greenwood community came out to vote. Through student leadership elections, students choose their student council representatives for the next school year.

The most hotly contested positions are Head Boy and Girl. The Head Boy and Girl are leaders within the student body. They head the Student Council and generally take a hands-on approach to student leadership, running events, greeting students at the door in the mornings, and doing their best to get to know every Greenwood student. It’s a large commitment, but eleven candidates — 6 girls and 5 boys — were ready and excited to take it on.

It was a tough decision and the candidates ran great campaigns. The week before, posters outlining their campaign promises and goals were put on display outside the Lodge. The candidates made themselves available at lunch so students could ask them questions. They elaborated on their campaign points during their speeches before the school.

In their election speeches, the candidates discussed their past experience in leadership roles at Greenwood, drawing on what they learned on sports teams, school plays, service learning, and clubs and committees. They spoke passionately about their ideas to make Greenwood a great place for all students, from running events to encourage stronger inter-grade relationships, recognizing more arts and athletics achievements, and initiatives to boost school spirit.

On Tuesday afternoon, the winners were announced. Greenwood’s Head Girl for 2018-2019 is Rachel Keaveney and our Head Boy is James Southey.

Rachel said, “I have wanted to be head girl since I can remember. I am so grateful for this amazing experience and I am so excited for next year.”

While she has a number of goals for next year, her biggest priority is bringing more attention to the arts. Her biggest goal for next year is to implement an Arts Banquet to recognize the achievements of Greenwood’s artists, similar to the annual Athletics Banquet.

She also believes that she and James will work well together. “I have known James for a long time, as we went to the same middle school for a bit, so I am very excited to work with him. [I am also] excited to work with the amazing community we have at Greenwood, and getting to know their ideas,” she said.

James is also excited to get started working with Rachel and the Greenwood community next year. “I am most excited about getting to know more students in younger grades that I don't know yet,” he said. This ties into his biggest priority for his time as Head Boy.

“One of my biggest priorities next year is to strengthen the relationships between grades,” he said. “I think it's important to set a good example for the younger students and to help mentor them. When I was in grade 7 and older grades talked to me and gave me advice, it inspired me to be a leader; I want to pass that on to the younger grades.”

He hopes to use his position to promote other students’ ideas for how to make Greenwood even better. As for his own plans, he hopes to run more events throughout the year to further grow school spirit.

In addition to the roles of Head Girl and Boy, there are other leadership opportunities that students have been running for. Grade Reps were elected on April 26, with a number of candidates running in each grade. Committee Executive and Member positions are decided based on interviews, which are going on throughout the week.