St. Marguerite Student Council members offer their time and talents to help the school, mentor others

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TOOELE — While student councils are a fixture at many schools and offer their members a chance to assist with activities, this year the student council at Saint Marguerite Catholic School in Tooele took on extra responsibility to provide support to the school program.

At the start of the academic year, SMCS moved to a micro-school model.

“What that means is we have a multi-age classroom,” said Chris Nielsen, the school’s chief administrator and first lead teacher.

With the new model, Nielsen has a class composed of students in kindergarten and first grade, the second-grade teacher takes care of the second- and third-grade class and so on.

“I really needed the student council to step up and help here,” Nielsen said.

For example, “I didn’t have the time to give to coordinate the morning prayer, and they just stepped up. … They do a really good work with that. They have also stepped up for assemblies and mentoring the little kids,” she added.

Throughout the year, members of the student council led all the daily morning announcements and prayers, helped plan and execute assemblies and other events, and mentored younger students, providing a great example of leadership and stewardship, she said.

They also worked along with the Parent Action Group to help plan the Halloween carnival, decorate for it and take care of some of the concessions for the event.

At the carnival, “they worked all the goodies; they didn’t play any games or enjoy any of the activities. They actually just served,” Nielsen said.

This school year’s SMCS Student Council was composed of students in the sixth to eighth grades. Officers were Martin Gonzalez, secretary; Jane Whittle, treasurer; Serene Perez, vice president; and Crystal Hubbell, president.

Seeing these students offer their time and talents has meant the world to Nielsen, she said.

“That dedication and commitment has been a huge blessing for the school. They sacrificed their fun and served others,” she said.

The SMCS student council also ran the school’s annual Valentine’s sale.

“They decorated every locker in the school as well as lit up some hallways,” Nielsen said. “They have given up their fun to serve their school. We have been so blessed to have such a wonderful group of kids that are willing to serve and put others first.”

Catholic education emphasizes that taking care of each other is part of a student’s identity.

“They definitely are exemplifying the message in the Gospel from Jesus; they have been showing their Christian spirit by serving others,” Nielsen said.