Oak Park and River Forest High School’s Student Council president, Ava Nicholson, has set a goal to “leave OPRF knowing that I brought new things that weren’t here before. She wants to “make a connection between the staff and the student body because sometimes there can be a lot of miscommunication and conflicts,” she said.

Nicholson has been on Student Council since freshman year, but it’s only this year that she has taken on her new role of president. “She reaches out to people in the student body,” said Katie Depasquale, one of the sponsors of Student Council.“She does a good job of bringing things to our attention.”

In their work behind the scenes, both faculty sponsors, Depasquale and Lindsey Cermak, have noticed how Nicholson has brought the council together through teamwork. “They all work really well together too,” said Depasquale.

“They’re really helping each other,” said Cermak.

Currently, Nicholson is working on getting access to Door 10 in the Field House for students in the morning. Nicholson said she has already spoken with the District 200 Board of Education. To bring the plan to fruition, the school would need to hire more security to cover the doors, she added.

The overall goal, Nicholson said, is, “to really figure out what the students want … [and] find ways to give students what they want.”

The Student Council is also involved in service activities and organizing school-wide events. Anyone is encouraged to join whenever, with no long term commitment. Everyone works together on a common goal and shares their ideas, with the moral that there’s no wrong answer and the space is judgment-free.

The Student Council also encourages participation in activities and school spirit. Nicholson said, “Especially after COVID, we don’t have a lot of things we can do right now as a school, and I think we really need to bring that back.” Since COVID-19, the Student Council has noticed how the school’s sport spirit has gone down in participation and fewer students come to support their friends and classmates at sport games.

As president, Nicholson wants to change that. She urges students to come down and cheer everyone on, make some memories and have a good time. “I know kids in the school are interested in what’s going on, but they just don’t know much about it,” she said, adding that a good strategy might be “working with other clubs to get the word out [through] advertising and flyers.”

What’s next for the Student Council is still somewhat unknown, but if students believe they have ideas that can be made possible, then come down and see what it’s all about. They meet every Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Room 1332 and are open to listen to anyone.