When students at Francis Lewis High School raised concerns about the condition of the strip bathrooms, Kimberly Lin, who is a sophomore representative with the Student Organization (S.O.) brought the issue to school administrators. Within months, the bathrooms were renovated.
“The sophomores, they usually tell me stuff that we could work on as a school, such as the dirty strip bathrooms,” Lin said. “And based on that feedback that was given to me, I tell Dr. Marmor these things. And he actually renovated the strip bathroom over the break. And now we have two new strip bathrooms.”
The S.O. representatives bring their complaints or suggestions for improvement in monthly meetings with Dr. Marmor. Members are also responsible for organizing the details behind large events, such as preparing materials and coordinating with other students.
“We’re the ones that are actually planning the events that we have, such as the pep rally outside. That was all of our work,” said Lin.
That level of responsibility also has an impact on the students themselves.
“It has helped me grow personally and professionally,” sophomore representative Jason Li said. “I’ve strengthened my communication skills and management skills by coordinating events, working with a team, and balancing responsibilities.”
Despite these efforts, the organization faces limits in reaching the entire student body.
“As you know we have 4,500 kids in the school,” senior advisor Mr. McKay said. “We have about 20 or so S.O. members. So I think the hardest thing to do is to try to make sure we reach each and every kid in the entire school.”
The S.O. shares information through posters, emails, social media, and Google Classroom. Even with these efforts, communication does not always reach every student or lead to the same experience across the school. Some students, including sophomore Janrick Perez, say they “don’t feel like [their] voice is heard.”
“I don’t think student feedback leads to real changes at the school,” Perez said. “Some examples are how the bathroom line is abnormally long, but even when the students ask the principal if they could open more bathrooms during that time, the principal doesn’t listen to their opinion.”
Other students point to similar challenges, especially when it comes to staying engaged throughout the year.
“I feel like at the end of the year we don’t have much to do. In the beginning of the year we had pep rallies, we had Spanish Heritage Month, but now we don’t really have anything, it’s kind of boring.”
Despite this, student experiences with the Student Organization vary across the school.
“If I had a concern about the school,” sophomore Coco Chow said, “there’s people who run for positions of authority in my classes, so I would talk to them about it. Since I have the connections to people who can actually make changes, I would tell them that the school can improve in specific ways.”
Through these informal networks, students who feel connected to representatives may be more likely to share feedback, though involvement can still vary depending on how active the organization feels at different points in the year.
Student leaders, however, describe a different vision for how that experience should look. “
My main responsibility is to be the voice of the sophomore class and make sure everyone feels included and heard,” Lin said. “I want to create an environment where students are not only informed and involved, but genuinely enjoy their school year.”
Lin said joining Student Organization was influenced by earlier experiences of feeling unheard.
“When I was in middle school I was like a really really shy kid,” Lin said. “I felt like my ideas weren’t getting heard by the school so when student elections came around and I saw people running for board positions I got really inspired. I saw what an impact that these students in student organization made and I was just really inspired.”
Lin said that experience continues to influence how she approaches her role as a representative.
“The most important part of S.O. is communication between us and the school and making sure everyone feels heard,” Lin said.
