{"id":1838,"date":"2024-04-23T08:49:42","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T12:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/?page_id=1838"},"modified":"2024-04-23T08:51:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T12:51:10","slug":"2024-annual-report","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/2024-annual-report\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Annual Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The State of BUA<\/b><\/p>\n

Student Council\u2019s Annual Report<\/b><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/h3>\n

April 2024<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

President, Anais Kim<\/span><\/p>\n

Vice President, Ibukun Owolabi\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Treasurer, Therese Askarbek<\/span><\/p>\n

Secretary, Abby Araia\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Class Representatives 2023-24<\/b><\/h2>\n

Grade 12:<\/span> Anais Kim, Ibukun Owolabi, Therese Askarbek, Abigail Araia<\/span><\/p>\n

Grade 11:<\/span> Ajay Wadhwani, Alex Furman, Yiannis Asikis, Ally Tian<\/span><\/p>\n

Grade 10:<\/span> Sofia Shih, Reeya Wadhwani, Angelique Pacombe Jones, Lisa Zhou<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

A Note from the Student Council President<\/b><\/h2>\n

To the BUA community,<\/span><\/p>\n

My, my, my, what a bittersweet ending. As my time on Student Council comes to a close, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this group. This year\u2019s class representatives and general members have attended meetings with fresh ideas, humor, and dedication. These Terriers barked up new trees and dug new holes, creating and solidifying an expansive network of canines; the participation from teachers and students alike in our efforts this year has truly been inspiring.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 23-24 Officers\u2019 overarching goal was to \u201creinvigorate BUA spirit through creating opportunities to show school pride, highlighting student achievement, and encouraging support and engagement at performances and competitions.\u201d This mission was seeded by our regretful observation about the lack of excitement around student life, an aspect we considered quintessential to the high school experience. And so, we embarked on a journey of reinvigoration, which began as the Class of \u201827 entered these halls to be continued forevermore.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our first step was to create a new initiative titled the Federal Bureau of Intrepids (FBI). This would be a year-long journey where students could earn points for their color teams in preparation for Field Day in May. We announced all BUA members\u2019 color teams at the first ASM of the year and explained that we would hold events for players to earn points for their teams throughout the year and that points would be awarded to members of the community who contributed to it through participation in sports and clubs, achievements, and more. We then kicked off this year-long journey through a game in which a senior representative from each color team came on stage to compete in our Balloon Pop game. Throughout the year, we had 4 more ASM takeovers in which we had students and teachers compete in challenges such as musical chairs, the riff-off, the arm wrestle tournament, the Halloween runway show, the Newlyweds game, and more. At the beginning of each ASM, we recognized athletes, club leaders, and other BUAers who had earned points for their team in the preceding month. Other events to promote the FBI project included our Fall Pep Rally and our Underdog Dodgeball game. I look to the next Officers to lift FBI to new heights, and I have no doubt that this group will be the ones to do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year has certainly been fun for the current Officers. Alas, do not fret \u2013 we work as hard as we play. We have taken on new responsibilities this year: rebranding the QSR (which has historically been quite noisy) to the CIA (Considerate Independent study Area) and ensuring that it continues to be a <\/span>quiet<\/span><\/i> space, designing new general and internal elections systems, and creating the FDA project for seniors (which will be revealed at a later date).<\/span><\/p>\n

It has truly been a pleasure. Peace and love, BUA!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n

Anais Kim<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Events Committee<\/b><\/h2>\n

Chaired by Alex Furman\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

This year the Events Committee planned and executed community-building events with enthusiasm and tenacity. As a committee, we planned our traditional events like Field Day, Fall Festival, Homecoming Dance, Lock-in, Semi-Formal Dance, Trivia Night, and the Student-Faculty Soccer and Basketball games, along with some newer initiatives including a general member appreciation party!<\/span><\/p>\n

In September, Events set three overarching goals. Our first was to support the officers in enhancing school spirit. We reached this objective in a number of ways: We helped plan pep rallies to encourage attendance at sports games; we hosted a dodgeball game for underdog field day teams to earn FBI points; we put on the most exciting game of assassins in BUA Lock-in history. Another element of our \u201chype\u201d goal was to raise hype within the Events Committee and foster an environment in which energy, creativity, and excitement were the defining features of each meeting. That way, when we encountered challenges (like when the GSU lights wouldn\u2019t turn off at the dance) our team was perfectly suited to face them.<\/span><\/p>\n

This idea went hand in hand with our second goal of \u201cdelegation.\u201d We set out to make the Events Committee collaboration-driven. Thanks to extensive participation, and the Stuco speaker acting as auditory inspiration, our team dynamic made meetings productive and simultaneously fun: typically planning an event with very specific \u201cto-dos\u201d in a structured way whilst incorporating imaginative ideas and engaging activities. We achieved our goal and ensured that each member played an important role in planning, whether that be speaking with faculty members, taking minutes, or leading a group activity. Many committee members stepped up as leaders which made delegating possible and effective. A new idea we implemented this year to support delegation was expanding the \u201cField Day Officer\u201d position to a committee (Celine, Reeya, and Sofia) to minimize stress for all involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our third goal was to successfully carry out fundraising efforts. We did this in two key ways. At Fallfest we aided the Girls\u2019 Soccer Team in holding their Breast Cancer Awareness Fundraiser, which ended up raising a couple hundred dollars. Our second big fundraising effort took place through \u201cMatch-o-matics,\u201d primarily led by Therese (\u201824). We gave out compatibility quizzes and collected money for the results, raising even more money this year than last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We noticed that when we achieved our goals it fueled a more engaged and prideful BUA community. We are proud of our progress and are excited to see what wonderful things the committee will achieve next year!<\/span><\/p>\n

With love,<\/span><\/p>\n

The Eventlings<\/span><\/p>\n

Policy Committee<\/b><\/h2>\n

Chaired by Ajay Wadhwani<\/span><\/h3>\n

This fall, Policy led a discussion about rewriting the student dress code with the goal of making it more inclusive of all genders, specific on where on campus it applies, and relevant to sports teams. The proposal is currently pending approval from the administration. Additionally, we created a summary of new and important policies in the student handbook and sent it out to all students. This included highlighting policies around ASM attendance, assignments, and safety. This will be a regular installment of the committee to keep the student body informed on the policies that are most important for them to remember. This spring, the committee requested that the GSU green box return system pilot program be reinstated permanently. The program was approved by Mr. Dettorre and the program management transitioned to Resources Committee. We also began discussion about assignment stacking, when students face multiple major assignments that are due in the same week. We talked to students, collected data on long term assignments from students in each grade, and interviewed teachers on their extension policies. As a potential solution to the problem, we determined that a better understanding of teacher extension policies as well as consistency across departments. We shared our thoughts and findings with Dr. White and she brought the notes to a larger committee that is working on the same issue. We expect word on a policy by the end of the school year.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Public Relations Committee<\/b><\/h2>\n

Chaired by Yiannis Asikis<\/span><\/h3>\n

This year the committee has been incredible. From the flow of ideas bouncing around, to the bright energy and enthusiasm our underclassmen bring to the table, PR has been more than a committee, it\u2019s been a home. It has felt amazing to see people coming to our meetings and relaying the ideas of their class.<\/span><\/p>\n

We immediately blasted off promoting StuCo\u2019s overarching goal with an emphasis on student body engagement. We thought, \u201cwhat better way to do this than use Mr. Kolovos\u2019s face,\u201d for a Harry-Potter-Houses inspired points board! We updated it year-round to correspond with the growing sums for each team. We consistently promoted student-run initiatives like Resource\u2019s annual Book Swap, Event\u2019s Pep Rally, & Policy\u2019s return of the Green Box Program. Similarly, we showcased the work BUA students were doing outside of school through Student Spotlights on instagram! This initiative was spearheaded by Lisa, making it all the more iconic. Cheerfully blessing our halls, we had Reeya and Lisa jumpstart \u201ctiny-mic q&a\u2019s.\u201d These little pockets of peace brought us joy during hard times, but also made @bua_stuco the talk of the town, having students call us \u201cin,\u201d as opposed to \u201cout!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re not sure how, but semester two was even merrier for PR. Leading club kick-off week, we promoted student clubs on our stories, elevating their platforms as more clubs created their own Instagram accounts. With student feedback, we upped our Instagram Reel game by creating more videos that engaged the community. For example, we created a snazzy promo for the Our Town cast (\u201csay hi in your character\u201d trend), and produced a heart-racing mini-film for the Enchanted Forest Dance, strengthening the PR-Events partnership. Perhaps one of PR\u2019s proudest accomplishments of the year was the creation of <\/span>Terrier Talk<\/span><\/i>, an interactive video alternative to News & Notes; this couldn\u2019t have been done without our amazing host, Angelique and plan to continue the series. We also worked hand in hand with the Geography Club (shout out Daniel and Jack!) to create the Map Board on the main staircase, a fan-favorite for the year. Most recently, we highlighted the work of our general members by creating General Member Shoutouts, including special words from our Chairs on the members they chose to highlight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What a year, I\u2019m at a loss for words. How on earth did we do this? Oh wait- I\u2019m not surprised, I had an amazing team by my side\u2013 or should I say, The Wolf Pack. I\u2019m so so proud of all the work the team put in this year, absolutely incredible. \u201cThis isn\u2019t goodbye, it\u2019s see you later.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Alpha Yiannis out.<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Resources Committee<\/b><\/h2>\n

Chaired by Ally Tian\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

This year, Resources Committee both continued previous initiatives and started many new ones! Over the summer and into the beginning of the fall semester, committee members worked hard on running the annual StuCo Book Swap to help students borrow books for the year. This year, we decided to switch from lending books for all subjects to a more limited selection of large STEM and classics textbooks. This decision was made after much consideration because (1) English and history books change year-to-year and are therefore often not available, and (2) English and history books are much more affordable than large textbooks, allowing us to optimize the Book Swap process so that committee members are able to make the most impact while minimizing the amount of work needed over their break.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This fall we followed up on our last proposal which provided students with Quizlet Plus access. The committee met with Dr. White on a few occasions to assess the effectiveness of the process after its implementation this past fall. After discussion with both faculty and students we formulated ways to cut program costs while maintaining its utility to those that need it. For example, we found that the grade-wide accounts (which were implemented only for upperclassmen this year) worked extremely well, and could save the program a lot of money if we expanded this model to the underclassmen for future years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Resources Inventory Officers also continued to be an integral part of the committee, diligently restocking bathroom boxes as needed all year. Huge shoutout to Sabrina \u201825 and Teddy \u201827 for their commitment to this committee position this year! Starting at the end of this school year \u2013 and continuing on in the future \u2013 we plan to expand the scope of Inventory Officers to include managing supplies in student spaces as well. Look forward to #2 pencils, staplers, pencil sharpeners, pillows, etc. in common rooms soon!<\/span><\/p>\n

One new responsibility Resources took on this spring was managing the Green Box Return program which allows BUA students to drop off their GSU food boxes to be returned in bulk by a student volunteer at the end of the day. A big thank you to Finn \u201825 for coordinating the program with all our lovely volunteers via email every week!<\/span><\/p>\n

In the spring, we set our sights on a new goal \u2013 improving the experience for BUA underclassmen that buy lunch. Currently restricted to the GSU, 9th and 10th graders only have access to limited and relatively expensive options. This proposal is still in progress, but if passed it would allow sophomores access to more food options along Commonwealth Avenue, as this would increase choices and lower costs for them. Stay tuned for further updates!<\/span><\/p>\n



<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The State of BUA Student Council\u2019s Annual Report April 2024\u00a0 President, Anais Kim Vice President, Ibukun Owolabi\u00a0 Treasurer, Therese Askarbek Secretary, Abby Araia\u00a0 Class Representatives 2023-24 Grade 12: Anais Kim, Ibukun Owolabi, Therese Askarbek, Abigail Araia Grade 11: Ajay Wadhwani, Alex Furman, Yiannis Asikis, Ally Tian Grade 10: Sofia Shih, Reeya Wadhwani, Angelique Pacombe Jones, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14259,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1838"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1841,"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1838\/revisions\/1841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buacademy.org\/stuco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}