Myles Siwela and Mohammad Khawaja are two members of the newly created Student Senate within the Medicine Hat Public School Division and were the first ones to attend a board meeting.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Myles Siwela and Mohammad Khawaja are both in Grade 12 at Medicine Hat High School and are members of the new Student Senate created this year.
Currently there are eight students on the senate from Grades 10-12 and all are from MHHS as the program is just getting off the ground at Crescent Heights High School.
Social Studies Teacher at MHHS and Student Senate teacher mentor, Ricky Hildebrand, said, “Student Senate is a new and unique engagement model, where robust two-way communication is happening amongst trustees, students and their teacher mentors.
“Students have been given the opportunity to share their collective voice and effect change throughout the system and we are grateful to guide them through that process. This initiative demonstrates a genuine desire from our school board to be student-centred.
“The student representatives are excited to be engaged at this level and to have a seat at the table, bringing forward the views of the students into board decisions. I look forward to seeing this take share and watch where it leads.”
Siwela thought the senate was a good opportunity to have his voice heard.
“There is no other way they could hear our voice except to have students in the meetings. I felt that was important to get my voice out there so they know what could be changed and then we could go from there.”
Along with the Student Senate, Khawaja is also part of the student council helping to organize events. Along with having a voice, Siwela was also cognizant being part of the senate would be a positive addition to his college resume.
“Mr. Hildebrand met with me last year and talked about how he was planning this whole thing and he wanted me to join in and asked if I knew a couple of other kids who would be interested and that’s how we got involved. I wanted to have influence on stuff that happens in our school. I loved the first meeting. It was awesome. It was nice to see how everything higher up works. Yeah, we learn here at school but how does everything behind the stage work?”
Both attended the board meeting on Sept. 27. As it was the first one, they were there to see how it worked and relay the information back to the rest of the senate. Before each board meeting, the Student Senate will engage in an agenda preparation session to discuss the issues and decide on any feedback they want to give to the board at the upcoming meeting.
Looking forward to next year, Siwela first thought he was heading into business but has changed his mind and wants to do education now. He plans to start at Medicine Hat College and then transfer to a university. Khawaja plans to do a Bachelor of Science before entering medical school.
