Kent City — The 2024-25 Kent City Elementary student council is a fairly humble bunch of kids. But get them talking about what they accomplished for their peers and school this past year and you’ll discover they’re a hard-working bunch, too.
“I’m proud of accomplishing the teacher appreciation project, because we would go to teachers’ doors in the school with snacks and stuff,” said fifth-grader Makenna Nurmkip. “Seeing them smile and how (the gesture) just makes their day, that felt really good.”
“I’m the most proud of talking to the lunch ladies,” said fellow student council member and fifth-grader Avery Hurd. “We got to describe what most of the students wanted (for lunches) so they could fix some things, and we felt like we were heard because they helped us change what we didn’t like.”
Avery and Makenna applied for and were appointed to serve as part of KCE’s first ever — or first that anyone can remember — student council this past year. The nine fourth- and fifth-graders were selected based on leadership skills (present or developing), teacher input and wanting to represent the demographics of the school, according to Michael Pavona, the school’s Multi-tiered Systems of Support behavior analyst.
‘They’re the ones in charge’
As the student council advisors, teachers Allison O’Connell and Steve Powers viewed their roles with the students as more to “give ‘em a nudge and stay out of the way,” Powers said. “They’re the ones in charge. We started sitting on bean bag chairs off to the side (of the meeting room) because we realized that they have a lot better discussions if (adults) are not at the table.”
Added O’Connell: “Having only students (around the table) actually makes them take more active roles in the meeting. Like, somebody starts writing notes. Somebody else will call on them one at a time so they aren’t talking over each other.”
This approach empowered the students to accomplish projects that mattered to them throughout the year. Avery, who with his mom often volunteers to help people experiencing homelessness, led a project to write encouraging notes and donate goodies for people in need. Fifth-grader Josh Umlor suggested a project giving holiday gifts to veterans. During National Reading Month, each council member read a book out loud to a K-3 classroom.
They also took on a few projects at the request of school leadership, including making a series of behavior-focused videos. Highlighting the district’s GREAT language, the videos demonstrated appropriate behavior to use in places like the playground or bathroom as an encouragement to finish the school year strong.
A Lunchtime Lesson
But the most popular project the student council took on this year saw the group directly advocating for their peers and effecting change. It started with every kid’s favorite topic: lunchroom food.
“We were given a notebook and we got to go around and ask people what they wanted to change or be different at school,” Avery said. “A lot of kids liked the soft tacos we had but (kitchen staff) took it away because it was too much work. And a lot of (kids) voted that they wanted to bring back sour cream, and some wanted hot sauce too.”
So O’Connell and Powers invited Food Service Director Beth Ohman and members of her kitchen staff to attend a meeting of the student council. The students explained some of the concerns and requests they had regarding the lunch menu and asked what modifications could be made.
The kitchen staff, in turn, explained the federal nutrition guidelines that school lunches must follow, discussed how much work goes into building hundreds of soft tacos at a time and talked about why a steamer can sometimes make chicken nuggets soggy, in addition to several other topics the council wondered about.
‘A good student council serves as a bridge between students and their school, and that’s what they’ve done.’
— teacher and advisor Allison O’Connell
“It was fun to meet with the lunch ladies because we learned that they have, like, certain rules, and we learned about certain grains and proteins they have to have, and they listened to what we were saying too,” said fourth-grader Kamden Volkers, who said the meeting gave him a better understanding of what goes into serving school lunches. “We were telling them our ideas about what we want, and they said that if they can do it, they will do it sometimes, which is really cool.”
Shortly after that meeting, the kitchen team followed up with a list for the student council: changes the kitchen had already made to lunch menus; changes they could not legally make, and why; and changes they would try to make. Notably, they brought back the soft tacos, this time as a “make your own” option.
“There were literal cheers, like classroom-wide, when kids went to the cafeteria that first day (the tacos) were back on the menu,” said O’Connell. “It was quite the victory for (the student council).”
Making School ‘More kid-approachable’
Kamden said he wanted to be on the student council because he thinks it’s important for everybody to have a voice. But that meeting with the kitchen staff, he said, was a lightbulb moment:
“It did really feel like we actually had a voice here,” he said. “Not just adults, but like everybody at the school can maybe make a change. It feels more, like, kid-approachable.”
Avery said he applied because he enjoys being a leader, and “it feels good to help people and make their voices heard.” But during his year of service, he also noticed some unexpected personal growth.
“Over this year in student council I’ve grown as a leader because at first I would think of myself more, but now I think about others, and what they need, more than me,” the fifth-grader said.
O’Connell and Powers said they look forward to continuing to elevate those voices and include students in decision-making as they work with a new crop of student council members next year. But both said this group would be hard to top.
“They feel proud of what they’ve done, and I think they feel more valued, and they should, because a good student council serves as a bridge between students and their school, and that’s what they’ve done,” O’Connell said.
Read more from Kent City:
• High-schoolers, second-graders team up for book project on digestive system
• Mentors lead recess with sportsmanship, respect
