Jan Week 2: Mid Week-Extra Curriculars-Student Council

On her first Thursday as the newly minted Student Council sponsor, Leah was already feeling the familiar sting of regret. The last advisor had resigned without warning, leaving Leah not with a handover or a neatly organized folder, but a box of tattered binders, a coffee-stained “PPHS Student Council Constitution” that looked like it had come from an ancient Xerox machine, and a flash drive with a single file: “PROM BUDGET_OLD.xls”. The rest—every tradition, every sacred calendar event, every inside joke and unspoken social rule—she was expected to pick up on the fly.

She sat at her desk in her classroom just after 3:00pm, prime time for after-school club mayhem. The fluorescent lights hummed. The wide hallway outside thundered with the echoes of teenage stampedes, as the combined football, softball, and marching band contingents headed to practice. Leah had a few minutes until the first scheduled Student Council meeting.

The Council had always been a kind of shadow government for the school, its members not just organizing prom and homecoming, but micromanaging every major spirit event, fundraiser, and public face-saving initiative. Leah had spent what free time she had during the day skimming archived emails and council group chats, picking out patterns. There were always about a dozen members. The president led, the vice president coordinated, the treasurer handled money mostly from the bake sales, and the secretary mostly reigned over the GroupMe thread. As for the rest, they were the social brain trust: the class valedictorian, the aspiring TikTok influencer, the FFA and Future Engineers kid, the secret stoner, and so on. The high school’s best and brightest, or at least its most persistently ambitious.

The students began entering her room with the usual pleasantries. Leah had scrawled her name and “Student Council Sponsor” on the whiteboard, pretending to exude both authority and approachability. All told, there were fourteen students, evenly split between juniors and seniors, all but two of whom were already on their phones. Leah did a quick survey, noting the careful distribution of genders, races, and extracurriculars, and decided that, at least on paper, this was a better group than her average afternoon AP civics class.

The deadpan president was the first to speak, even before Leah had a chance to introduce herself.

“I’m Sydney. President. This is Jonah, Vice.” She jerked her thumb at the band kid, who mumbled a greeting while adjusting the straps on his backpack.

There was a ripple of laughter, the kind Leah recognized as equal parts actual amusement and cold-blooded social signaling. Sydney sat, crossing her arms and fixing Leah with a stare that said, “I'm a mean girl and I run this.” The rest arranged themselves around the front desks, some sitting on tables, others slouching backwards in their chairs, all eyes flicking between Leah and the president.

“I’m, uh, Miss Williams. Most of y’all know me, even if you haven’t had a course with me. I’m thrilled to be your new advisor.” she lied, paused, then continued, “I know the last couple years have been…topsy-turvy with lots of turn over but I’m here to support whatever you normally get accomplished. I want to make sure you all have the best possible year. So.” She clapped her hands together. “Let’s talk about what’s coming up. I know prom is the biggest thing for the semester.”

“Miss Williams is right,” Sydney said, leaning forward with a hint of enthusiasm that surprised Leah. “Prom is definitely the biggest thing we do this year. There’s a ton to coordinate—fundraisers to help pay for everything, picking a theme that doesn’t suck, finding a venue that can actually fit us, and we need to nail down a DJ who won’t play just the latest TikTok hits.”

Jonah chimed in, glancing up from his phone.

“And don’t forget about the decorations! We can’t have another year of those lame streamers and cheap balloons. We need something that’ll actually impress people.”

“Exactly!” Sydney shot back, her eyes gleaming with determination. “We need to make this prom unforgettable. It’s our last chance to throw a real party before graduation.”

A ripple of excitement spread through the group, and Leah felt a flicker of hope. Maybe they could pull this off after all.

“Very good.” Leah said pulling out a notepad and pen. Lets get started with some introductions and then we can work on ideas and we will discuss more next week.

After Leah went around and each student introduced themselves the group talked about the logistics of events coming up and how they could work on them. Leah was just glad she was doing this rather than doing some coaching or being corralled with the nerds in the Chess Club. The meeting didn’t last long, but it was just supposed to get everyone familiar with Leah and for her to get familiar with the group. She knew they would be meeting again next week so everyone was glad to be headed home for the day.