This year, the Student Council is continuing to make Hayes a better place for students. In past years, they have been known for organizing Prom and Homecoming but not much else. However, the current group of students has a lot of energy and passion and they are dedicated to improving student life at Hayes.
Student Council started the year off by organizing the Y2K themed Homecoming dance. The group started working back in July to make the event great for students. They incorporated additional activities to the dance like karaoke and the photo booth, as well as decorations to enhance the theme.
Joanne Meyer, advisor for Student Council, said she is very happy with the result.
“Homecoming, I think, was one of the better ones […] from what I hear from kids and the feedback,” Meyer said. “I think everybody had a good time […] if everybody was having a good time, that’s all we plan for.”
Since they started working on Homecoming planning early this year, Student Council is just now beginning to shift their focus away from that. The group has brainstormed and planned a few additional things so far, including potentially collaborating with the Hayes Environmental group, hosting a Halloween scavenger hunt and running a coat drive similar to the one they did last year.
Even though they haven’t been able to work on many things unrelated to Homecoming thus far, Meyer said she is excited for the year and can tell that Student Council will do great things.
“What I noticed more than the numbers is we have a very energetic and creative group who wants to do a lot of things, so there’s a lot of energy this year which is awesome,” Meyer said.
For the 2025-2026 school year, Student Council has developed a leadership council for students who want to be even more involved, since they don’t have a president or other similar roles. This council is made up of two students from each grade who are in charge of the year long committees, such as the spirit week committee.
The leadership council gives students the opportunity to be more involved in student council and will help the committees to stay on task and get more done.
“We have a committee of people, but [with] that student leadership committee, one person is going to say, ‘I’m gonna be responsible to make sure of this,’” Meyer said.
A large goal within Student Council right now is to implement more social media. The committee wants to use social media to promote events and get kids more involved. Something like an Instagram reel highlighting an event or a post about the upcoming spirit days can help students be reminded of and excited about what’s to come.
So far this year, they have made a new Instagram account and posted reminders about spirit week and homecoming, as well as a video to promote the Homecoming pep rally. They have also created a facebook account to post similar content.
“We’ve been trying to promote more of what we’re doing so kids […] are more involved,” junior Ella McMahon said.
Additionally, Student Council is working to have more pep rallies throughout the school year. Pep rallies can be a way to bring the whole school together and build excitement about upcoming events, such as homecoming. They’re intended to be a fun experience for everyone by including things like the relay for students to watch or participate in.
Hayes had their first pep rally of the year on the Friday of homecoming weekend. Students enjoyed it so much that Student Council is looking to have another one in the winter. Many members said it was really rewarding for them to see the positive impact the pep rally had.
“With the pep rally and the relay and everything, we got so much positive feedback,” junior Cate Artemus said. “It was just the cherry on top to know that everything I had done up to that and all the work I put in paid off.”
One of the more significant things Student Council is known for is Spirit week. The spirit committee is currently working to organize a different spirit week for every month. Having more spirit weeks will allow students more opportunities to dress up and make coming to school more enjoyable, especially around stressful times, such as right before finals.
By implementing more events like spirit weeks and pep rallies, Student Council members said they hope to improve the high school experience for Hayes students. School can be stressful and overwhelming sometimes, so it helps to have things to look forward to.
“My goal in Student Council is to not be embarrassed and create things where all students want to participate and do everything,” Artemus said.
Overall, Student Council is super motivated and excited for this school year. While the amount of people is really similar to the past, there are a lot of new members who are passionate and energetic about making a difference.
“This year has definitely been the best year ever that I’ve been in Student Council,” McMahon said. “We have really great freshmen and kids who just haven’t been a part of Student Council join, and we’ve been getting a lot more done.”
