Accepting a new leadership role and overcoming personal challenges is no small feat. But 17-year-old Vancouver resident and Grade 12 SelfDesign learner, Samayyah, has done just that. She is building skills and gaining confidence as Learner Council President for the 2020/21 school year.
“In the beginning it was very scary, taking a leadership role in meetings and talking to blank faces,” Samayyah says about the first few weeks acting as president. “I’ve definitely gained a lot of confidence in my communication skills, and with planning and thinking on-the-fly.”
With encouragement from her learning consultant, Dave Ellison, Samayyah decided to run for president. She is benefitting greatly from the many learning experiences a leadership role provides, and she continues to make sure that the core values of Learner’s Council shine through with every council decision.
“The main goal [of the council] is to bridge the gap between the students and SelfDesign,” said Samayyah. “We have representatives from every grade and everyone has their roles. We all contribute in different ways and everyone has an equal say in what’s going on.”
Student council is a unique skill-building opportunity for learners. Samayyah says they get to practice their communication skills both within council and with people outside the council, like when they’re event planning. They also prepare for preventing and dealing with conflict, although they haven’t had any issues to date. She’s proud to say that their space is comfortable, inclusive and safe for everyone to share their ideas.
The council is still fairly new to SelfDesign. In its second year, the council is made up of learners from grades 9 to 12 including Olive, Kassidy, Davis, Justin, Callie, Neva, Isabelle and Vanessa Kuran, the Vice Principal of SelfDesign and the council’s educator sponsor. One of the council’s accomplishments this year was hosting an hour-long event called Campfire. Seventeen learners joined this online event and participated in icebreaker activities, trivia and providing feedback for SelfDesign on their learning experiences.
“Everyone who attended participated in the discussions and enjoyed themselves which was definitely a big win for us,” Samayyah said.
The goal of their next event was to raise awareness for Indigenous children’s issues. It was held around Valentine’s Day and was fittingly called, “Have a Heart Day”. The learners wanted to shine a light on the current discrepancies at school between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.
Another project in the works is creating a video geared towards grade 8 and 9 learners. It will feature older students describing their experiences and accomplishments within the Learner’s Council. The video will serve as a tool for younger/new learners to familiarize themselves with the council’s values and processes.
Samayyah believes it is really important to have a Learner’s Council within SelfDesign.
“SelfDesign isn’t like average regular schools,” she said. “It’s really important for learners to have opportunities to have leadership positions – to feel like they have their voices heard, and to feel like they can make a difference. We should have some sort of input and control over how things go, because in the end, it’s us learning. I wish something like this existed when I was in Grade 9.”
Samayyah is considering a post-secondary education in computer science. She hopes to apply some of the skills she has gained from leading the Learner’s Council.
“Instead of looking at the process [of leading] like a challenge, I ask myself, ‘what am I learning here? How am I going to apply this to going to university, in classes and clubs and that sort of thing’. I feel like this has really helped me with preparing for that,” she said.
