Upper School Town Hall Empowers Students and Student Leaders

This February, the MICDS Upper School launched a new leadership program thanks to the guidance of Nicole Trueman-Shaw, Director of Upper School Student Leadership & Dean of Students. „Last year, I attended the Independent Schools Experiential Education Network Institute (ISEEN) and chose workshops specifically about empowering students and student leadership,“ explains Trueman-Shaw. „From there, I came up with the idea of an annual leadership program or activity. This year, we are keeping the leadership program simple with three mini town hall-style meetings.“ Much of the Upper School student body took part in the MICDS Congress Town Hall during Winter Term, so the town hall format was a familiar place to start just one month later.

To set up the Town Hall on February 22, Upper Schoolers were divided into six large groups with 10 advisories in each group. Each group was assigned one of the following locations: Brauer Auditorium, the Upper School Dining Hall, the Band Room, McCulloch Library, Orthwein Theatre, and McDonnell Gymnasium. While students remained in their assigned locations, six different student leadership groups rotated through to meet with the students, including Student Council, Activities Committee, Community Service Committee, Arts Council, Athletics Committee, and Honor Council. This gave the student leaders the opportunity to meet directly with the students they represent while the constituents got to have their voices heard.

Students had the opportunity to ask questions, share ideas, raise concerns, and make recommendations to their elected leaders. Each branch of government recorded the audience’s comments and suggestions. Then, on Tuesday, February 27, the Student Government co-heads presented at an assembly with a summary of the suggestions, ideas, and concerns, and they announced the issues that they would focus on first.

Here are some of the takeaways:

  • The Activities Committee is looking into an improved sign-up system for Club Fest and is thinking about new Field Day activities (i.e. seniors vs. teachers competitions).
  • Arts Council clarified plans for the rescheduling of Blue Whale and is considering a digital payment option for tickets.
  • The Athletics Committee hopes to create more competitions between grade levels and teams and is researching the possibility of theme-specific merchandise.
  • The Community Service Committee is planning a Campus Clean-up and reiterated how their website is a strong resource.
  • The Honor Council clarified that AI is primarily not to be used and talked about the use of Grammarly.
  • Student Council reported that they’re talking to the administration about the feedback on auxiliary periods, advisory periods, and collab.
What did students think of the Town Hall meetings? We asked some of the Student Government leaders for their thoughts:
  • „In my opinion, the town hall was a great opportunity to hear feedback from students in all grades rather than from my friends/classmates. It was also great to let students know all the work we’ve been doing behind the scenes on issues like school lunch, advisory periods, and Field Day. I think it meant a lot for the underclassmen as well to show their contributions to StuCo because Camden and I are normally the ones announcing everything during assembly.“ —Devon Carruthers ’24
  • „The Town Hall meeting was a great way for people to learn about the Honor Council, its structure, and its process. I felt it was helpful for the Upper School but also for the Honor Council; it was surprising to see the amount of concerns that were brought up about AI, and this helped us as it told us that we need to talk more about the Honor Council’s policy on AI in assemblies. The main values that I felt shined through during this Town Hall meeting for the Honor Council were transparency and a commitment to addressing the concerns of the community. We wanted to make sure that everybody knew what the Honor Council did and that we answered every question to the best of our abilities in the most detail that we could. It was our goal that we keep no secrets and that everybody is well-informed about correct honor policies and how to navigate schoolwork in the best way possible.“ —Samruddh Singh ’24
  • „The Town Hall-style meeting was a great opportunity to hear from parts of the community that we have not been able to hear from previously. These types of meetings are very valuable to us student leaders as we can gauge what is working with the MICDS community and what needs to be improved. For students, it’s a great opportunity to get their voices heard so they can communicate things that they wish to see changed in the future. The Activities Committee, in particular, is looking to change three things in the coming future. We are looking to have more community involvement and decision-making abilities in regard to the MICDS dances. We’re also going to continue to develop the Field Day activities and involve more of the senior class, as it is important to recognize their hard work on that day. Additionally, we are going to make our annual Club Fest at the beginning of the year more accessible to everybody.“ —Jacob Daus ’25
  • „The Town Hall meetings were a fantastic opportunity to hear from our community about their feedback on our individual StuGov branches and what we as leaders can be doing better. As Community Service Committee co-heads, we sought to gather ideas from our peers about their thoughts on all things service, and we received tons of helpful feedback about the service hour requirement, volunteer opportunities around the school, and ways to increase accessibility to service in the community. Our main takeaway was that we needed to increase the visibility of our Community Service Website, which we have now implemented by putting the QR code all over the school.“ —Abby Gray ’24
We can’t wait to see what student-driven changes are made based on the student voices being heard from these Town Hall meetings! „If this program is successful, I’ll work with the co-heads of each branch of Student Government to continue developing this concept and hopefully have two more complex Student Government programs/activities each year,“ said Trueman-Shaw. „I want students to feel seen and heard by their elected leaders and have the opportunity to ask questions, make suggestions, or share concerns. In turn, I want the student leaders to feel the weight of their elected positions and normalize making themselves available to their constituents.“
What a great way to empower student leaders and the members they represent, each serving a very important role as active members of the MICDS Upper School!