Let’s Go, StuCo!

The Lick-Wilmerding High School Student Council (StuCo) provides a link between students, FacStaff and the administration. From spearheading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives to community-building games, the executive board has been putting in the hours this year. StuCo positions include co-Presidents, co-Vice Presidents, Student Inclusion co-Chairs, Environmental co-Chairs, Community Networkers, Spirit Coordinators as well as a Secretary and a Treasurer.

Our current student body co-Presidents are Olivia Castillo ’23 and George Duran ’23. Castillo and Duran were co-Student Inclusion Chairs during the 2021-2022 school year.

Outside of his StuCo position, Duran is also a leader of Latinx Unidos at LWHS, plays Varsity Water Polo and Lacrosse and helps out with Admissions events. Castillo is interested in DEI work outside of her executive role, is a leader of Women of Color in STEM and enjoys learning about neuroscience.

“We felt like we accomplished a lot as Student Inclusion Chairs, even more than we expected, but we knew there was so much more that we could accomplish,” Duran said, regarding his and Castillo’s decision to run as co-Presidents. As co-Presidents, Castillo and Duran’s role on StuCo has shifted. They now facilitate the executive board, and do a lot more organizing and distributing of tasks. Castillo described how as co-Presidents, she and Duran are now able to communicate directly with the Head of School and administration, unlike last year as Student Inclusion Chairs.

“One of the biggest things we have tried to do this year is enhance fun events and community meetings. We want people to look forward to it, and the games are something that we have been really proud of this year,” Castillo said.

“My favorite thing about Lick is just the community. Everyone here has this thriving energy, especially when it comes to athletics. Community meetings are supposed to be a space where the whole school combined together can celebrate and elevate each other,” Duran said.

The Presidents are also working hard to relieve stress in the student body through homework free weekends and breaks.

Castillo and Duran are also both members of the Ethnic Studies Working Group and Sexual Assault and Harassment Working Group at LWHS. Their work last year for the Ethnic Studies group included the formation of an Ethnic Studies elective this year at LWHS.

Regarding the Sexual Assault and Harassment walkout last year, the Presidents have been doing a lot of follow-up work with the administration about the demands produced by attendees. The most recent work for this group has been consent programming at the school. “This has been a slower process just because a lot of seniors and juniors are overloaded with academics. We’re trying to be aware and prioritize fostering relationships before accomplishing a goal,” Castillo said.

Current Student Inclusion Chairs Nathan Rivera ’24 and Senai Wilks ’24 work closely with the Presidents in DEI work. Rivera described the reason that they chose to run for this position. “As BIPOC students, we felt alienated and left out sometimes. We wanted to foster a space where people could feel a sense of community with one another, especially BIPOC frosh,” he said.

Recently, Rivera and Wilks collaborated to plan discussion mixers with affinity groups, working closely with interim Directors of Student Inclusion Dee Johnson, Christine Godinez- Jackson and Gaby Perez. Wilks noted that she is proud of the work she and Rivera have done for the updated policies for transgender students on campus. Recently, they hosted a meeting along with Johnson for any students to attend and ask questions about the Transgender Student Support Policy.

Outside of StuCo, Rivera is also interested in music, involved with San Francisco Ignite Leadership in Youth (SFILY) and a member of the ASIA and KABA affinity spaces. Wilks is also involved in SFILY, is a member of the Paper Tiger Staff and is a leader of LW-Lit and FM.

Sophie Spokes ’23 and Rowan Morris ’23 are this year’s Spirit Coordinators. Outside of StuCo, Spokes plays Varsity Field Hockey, Soccer and Lacrosse, and is interested in STEM subjects as well as mental health. Morris plays Varsity Water Polo and Lacrosse, and mentors youth in gardens.

Spokes and Morris chose to run together because they believe they balance each other out. “I’m good at the logistics, and Rowan is good at the cheering side. We just wanted to make Lick a more exciting and spirited place, and to support the athletics and performing arts more,” Spokes said.

The Spirit Coordinators have worked closely with the Presidents to facilitate the school-wide games, including pie-ing Interim Head of School Katie Titus at a Community Meeting. They also planned Spirit Week.

“Right now we are organizing Chase and Kezar [spirit games]. Another goal of ours is to do an Olympics in the future,” Morris said. The Spirit Coordinators also hosted a Fall Sports Sendoff recently, which included compiling fun highlight videos from each team and showing it to the school community.

StuCo welcomed an entirely new position to the executive board this year: Environmental Chairs. Natalie Heller ’23 and Bruno Kai Ong ’23 work to hold the school accountable when it comes to environmental issues and implementing sustainable practices. Outside of StuCo, Heller plays Varsity Field Hockey and Softball, is heavily involved with the Bay Area Youth Climate Summit (BAYCS) and enjoys outdoor activities such as snorkeling, scuba diving, biking, walking and hiking. Ong runs on the LWHS Varsity Cross Country and Track teams, is also involved with BAYCS, co-leads the Multiracial Alliance Club (MAC) and is in LWHS’s architecture program.

Heller and Ong decided to run for Environmental Chair together because they had successfully worked on other environmental initiatives in the past and have collaborated well. “It’s exciting to help define a new position,” Ong said. “We are able to partner with facilities and assess our energy waste output. Our goal with that is to broaden the knowledge of the community about environmentally friendly practices that Lick already has in place.”

“Something that we have learned along the way is how sustainable Lick is already — the main building is really efficient. Every aspect is; the lights, water, toilets and lighting,” she said. Because of this, they have shifted their focus to spreading more awareness instead of the more concrete action items. One example of this is encouraging LWHS community members to separate their butter wrappers from the rest of their food that is going into the compost when bussing plates at lunchtime.

Another important facet of this role is providing the community with resources to learn more about local environmental projects and volunteer opportunities. Heller and Ong are also happy to support any LWHS students that approach them with environmental initiatives that they want to start.

The Community Networkers behind the famous Spotlight ideos are Colin O’Brien ’23 and Nicholas Gellerman ’23. Both have worked on many video projects in the past.

O’Brien noted that they have been “playing it safe” with a lot of their videos so far, but have plans to try out some more abstract ideas for Spotlight Videos next semester. “I’m really proud of our Halloween vampire movie,” he said.

Gellerman explained the Community Networkers’ role in facilitating and building a Haunted House at the end of October. “It was really fun to be with all of the people working on it. I really felt the community of Lick-Wilmerding,” he said. “It’s crazy to me that we just put something in the eTiger and 20 people came out and dedicated their time after school to help us, and we made a really cool thing.”

O’Brien and Gellerman are currently working on a collaborative project with the Environmental Chairs to highlight sustainability practices at LWHS as well as a Spotlight season finale, so look out for those in future community meetings!

The co-Vice Presidents this year are Cara Steele ’23 and Sekani Soriano-Bilal ’23. Their job is to plan school dances and other school related events.

This school year’s Secretary is Charlotte Wyman ’23 and the Treasurer is Cole Tao ’24.

A theme among the StuCo positions, especially the executive board, is building community. The members find community with each other and work to build it up among the rest of the school.

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Nina Laser

Nina Laser is a senior and an Editor-in-Chief of the Paper Tiger. She loves playing basketball, baking, camping, and snowboarding.

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