State student council represented heavily by district students

By Sam Harvey
Staff Reporter

From Selbyville Middle School, Abigail Boettinger was elected as vice-president this year, building on her tenure as secretary last year, and Caitlin Forte became secretary for the DSCA this year.

From the Southern Delaware School of the Arts (SDSA), Courtenay Rickards took over as historian.

“It’s a nice feather in our cap,” noted DSCA advisor Patricia Jennings. She said two voters apiece, from 28 schools, had chosen the local students at a state student council conference in the spring.

Boettinger suggested her sloganeering may have won the election for her. She ran on “Make the Write Choice” last year, and that seemed to work for secretary, and this year’s “Make the Best Choice Twice — Vote Abby for Vice,” in tropical colors, obviously grabbed some votes.

Forte said she’d run on the fundamentals — why she was ready for the job, her accomplishments.

Over at the SDSA, Rickards said she’d actually created a running pictorial scrapbook on the ground, and then used it for her campaigning materials. (She brought some scrapbooks of her own, too). Apparently, a picture can say a thousand words.

A few weeks ago (Nov. 2), the officers returned for another state conference, to get some training they could share with the local student councils.

This year’s theme was “Travel Far, Search for Who You Are,” Jennings said – the idea was to challenge young students to take journeys inward, try to determine what they might like to start focusing on as they advance through high school.

“I’m going to do research on some different lawyer positions,” Boettinger noted. “And next year, I’ll need to decide whether I’m going to Sussex Tech or Indian River, so I’ll be looking at that.” Rickards said she hoped to help attract a medical doctor or veterinarian for some career-related activities.

And, they’ll have some recommendations for the local councils, regarding some of the speakers from the state circuit. This year’s keynote speaker was Kathy Cummings of Compassionate Care Hospice — Jennings said Cummings had related her visits with elders at the nursing homes, as a young lady, and how she’d come to develop a love for the experience.

Forte said all the speakers tied into the state theme, one way or another. Boettinger said many had relayed the fact that falling into the drug subculture tended to getting in the way of a person’s search for self.

All three girls remarked on Jeff Blum, who’d spiced it up a little with some magic tricks. According to Rickards, Blum’s activities had offered the reminder that it was okay if the middle-schoolers didn’t know what they wanted to do when they were older, yet — that would be their magic.

According to Jennings, the DSCA representatives also try to bring “Standards of Excellence” activities back to the local student councils, and give everyone some possible ideas for community service. As far as state level activities, she said they were considering some kind of Hurricane Katrina benefit-related activity, but as yet, they hadn’t settled on anything.

The other officers are from Kent (Fifer Middle School’s Erin McCleary, treasurer) and New Castle counties (St. Anthony of Padua’s Charlotte Strazdus, president), but the quintet will likely stay in touch via e-mail and telephone.

Whatever they come up with, Boettinger will probably be helping with the organization, Rickards will be shooting the documentary and Forte will be writing down the details.