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BES Student Council Strives to Help the Community

BES Student Council Strives to Help the Community

Volunteerism and community support are pillars that BCSD hopes to instill in its students. A way students can learn and grow as leaders is within student council.

Beekmantown Elementary School has a group of active and dedicated 5th grade students, who are working hard to provide resources for their school and community. BES student council is overseen by advisors Stacy Poe, Sara Knight and Bobbi Burns.

BES Student Council is only compiled of 5th grade students. Students come into school early twice a month. During these meetings, students discuss different fundraising opportunities, work on posters and sometimes meet with high school student council.

Currently, they are doing working on two initiatives.

“We are going to have a bake sale to raise money for our Care Closet,” BES student Landon Poe said.

Care Closet is an initiative Student Council came up with to help fellow classmates. They found a closet in the school to be used to stock essential items. They want to stock it with deodorant, hair ties, brushes and other items kids might need that they don’t have access to. Student Council also wants to keep snacks for students who may need extra food over the weekends.  

Student Council hopes to have the Care Closet up and running by the end of May.

The other large project that the students are working on is the Big Change Roundup. Students are collecting coins to be donated to CVPH Children’s Hospital.

To incentivize students, there are prizes at interval goals. Prizes can range from a having a pajama day, wearing random hats or other fun activities for students to look forward to reaching.

“In the past, we’ve raised more than $2,000 in a week,” Advisor Poe said. “It’s been really great so far, and these kids have been working their tails off with all of this.”

Student Council members opted out of the recess time to help sort and count the donated coins. It took time to go through every piece and then make sure it was counted correctly to update the overall count.

“I like being on student council because I am a role model for other students and help lead them,” BES student Ruby Atwood said.

BES Student Council has led several other initiatives that provide support to the community. Some other student-led projects have been making Valentine’s Day cards for nursing home residents. Student Council also helped make posters for Seussical the Musical. They organized a shoe drive for the SPCA.

“They were very grateful because when we turned all those shoes in, they were able to get money for them,” BES student Addilyn Rasco said. “This helped them buy new kennels for the dogs.”

BES Student Council also came up with a way to keep classes focused throughout the morning announcements. They decided to find fun facts to be read each morning, and then at the end of the week, classes would be asked a question based on a fact from earlier in the week.

“We will pick someone to answer, and if they answer correctly, they win a prize,” BES student Americus Rabideau.

It has been a great way to involve the whole elementary school through a positive and productive solution.

“They’ve done a ton this year,” Poe said. “And because they are responsible, we can take on more and more. If a teachers asks me to do something or the community needs it, I can set up a few kids doing this these.”