By Aarian Bhakoo & Miatah McCallum | January 20th, 2022
For the first entry in our grade rep interview series, I had the privilege of speaking with Andy Ganea, the Woodlands’ School’s elected Grade 12 Student Representative for the 2021-2022 student year. For those unaware, the Grade 12 Student Rep is an elected position within the Woodlands’ Student Activity Council (SAC). On a designated election day during the first month of the school year, Grade 12 students from all streams come together and vote from a shortlisted pool of candidates to determine who they believe to be the individual best suited to both understand and voice their concerns, desires, and wishes to the SAC. The representative is tasked with surveying the Grade 12 student body regularly to determine their thoughts and feelings throughout the year, propose strategies to appeal to Grade 12’s, and act as the communicative link between SAC and the student populace, essentially keeping their finger directly on the pulse of senior student life. This year, the individual selected to take on the mantle was Andy, and for him, it’s still an experience that he’s getting used to.
“People have been telling me since Grade 9, Grade 10, ‘Andy, you should run for grade rep’.” Andy explained to me one early evening, our interview coming on the tail end of a day that had involved a gauntlet of both classes and clubs for the newly-anointed representative. “I was always second-guessing myself, like ‘Oh, what if more popular people try to run against me? What would be the efficacy of a great rep if we’re fully online like last year? But now, I’m grateful that I finally realized the opportunity, that all of our events are going to be in-person, [and] running for Grade Rep and being part of SAC would be best right now, because I don’t have any other chance after this to become one.”
Gratitude is a recurring theme in our discussions, and it extends to every party involved in Andy’s campaign, from start to finish. Gratitude towards friends who cheered him on during his first period music class while he sat with his head glued to the stand out of anxiety. Gratitude towards every participant in the SAC Grade Rep elections, student voter and fellow candidate alike. And, as many would likely recognize, gratitude towards fantastic artists that fueled the promotional side of his campaign.
“I don’t have any artistic talents.” Andy says bluntly, eliciting a laugh from us both. “If I just throw together a poster in Canva and call it a day, no one is going to remember what my posters are, and it won’t leave a lasting impact on anyone. Walking by and seeing a memorable poster that’s drawn well and accentuates some of my characteristics, like music, all put out for everyone to understand, that’s important. People might say ‘I remember this guy, he put these out’.”
“I just had the idea of wanting one of my campaign posters to show me riding the Woodlands Ram mascot in front of the school, with the characteristic of all of the instruments that most people know I just randomly play through the hallways and the instruments I keep in my locker. Catherine Zhang really helped me throughout the entire process by drawing this poster, and it was something that nearly everyone universally liked. Also, Rohith Rajmohan. I commissioned Rohith to make a second poster of me floating, more instruments around me, also me playing the clarinet. The campaign had to stretch over the weekend, and I had to put out another poster or piece of campaign material. I really owe a lot to those two students for the victory that I grabbed with my campaign."
The idea of a ram, leading the school through the uncertain times that the COVID-19 pandemic had thrust upon us, immediately caught my attention, and sent a few sparks off in my head. I asked Andy whether he identified strongly with the imagery of the poster, and whether he felt that there was a certain power in his hands that had sprung up following the election, and his response gave me a lot to chew on.
“Grade Reps have an equal power within the council itself. They all have the same responsibility to take feedback from the grade, incorporate it, and then present it back to the executives. So there’s a constant positive feedback loop between engaged students and the SAC exec.” he starts, beginning with a logical breakdown of roles and responsibilities before briefly stopping to ponder over his own position. “Though, by being a Grade 12 and having experience within the school, I feel like I hold slightly more responsibility. I’m able to talk freely with other executives at all times, and approach the younger reps, who might not have even seen the school’s population before because of online schooling.” he adds, before once more turning his attention to the distant future. “I still don’t know how ready I would be to incorporate my own take into SAC events. I haven’t been able to do so right away, especially with events like Pumpkins & Polaroids, given the short notice. But, for any SAC event we do in the future, some of my takes might get integrated, and I feel like I’d have more power to influence larger events in that way. Throughout my SAC campaign, I accentuated my leadership, my event planning, my logistical skills, and I feel that I can bring something to the table to help SAC events run more smoothly.”
It’s a challenge for any club to make the transition from the virtual to the in-school space, especially one specifically focused around the facilitation of social events in SAC’s fashion. Andy, along with the rest of SAC, has been locked in an endless stream of discussions for weeks on end regarding the integration of both online and in-person events, the recreation of online events in the physical space, even the possibility of models for prom and commencement ceremonies. Currently, it’s murky territory at best; speculation over COVID-19’s status is never fact, and the risk of student safety and a transition back to an online environment is something that SAC must constantly weigh in their decision-making. It’s difficult to provide any sort of insight whatsoever, but Andy did clue me in on some of SAC’s current hopes.
“We’re still hoping, fingers crossed, that major events like a carnival can happen in some way, shape or form.” he explains, his voice becoming nostalgic as he reflects back on years in the past. “If the situation remains safe and we get the approval, maybe we can plan a semi-formal, or a carnival that’s exactly how us Grade 12s remember it in Grade Nine. Grade Nine was the only carnival our year ever had, and I remember going to it, being blown away by the events and the planning. I remember going to semi-formal as a Grade 10 too, and I think we as seniors want to relive those experiences. Also, for the Grade 12s, we probably want to plan out more special graduation events [such as Senior Sunrise], all of the events that couldn’t have even happened under past COVID-19 protocols.”
“As well, obviously, we would incorporate and continually think of new ideas and other events that we can slot in between the big events to keep the interest in SAC going throughout the year, because we don’t want people to become unmotivated when it comes to SAC event attendance. In the online space, there was less interaction between peers, and interaction between students of all grades is a very important piece of SAC event success.”
One of Andy’s current strategies to address declining event attendance in the digital environment, as well as one of his campaign’s key selling points, is a concept titled Grade Wars. It revolves around including grade-centric incentives for students to participate in SAC events by providing competitive spaces for teams from various grades to battle it out. Winning SAC-hosted competitions would win points for your grade, and the grade with the most points would win a prize at the end of the year. He believes that the inclusion of such a concept in SAC’s events would incentivize students to keep coming back for reasons related to both prizes and school spirit, and on the whole, bring some entertainment to SAC’s big comeback. Personally, the concept imbued me with some nostalgia of my own, taking me back to when elementary and middle schools were split into color houses for event days. I had never seen such a concept before, and it prompted the question of how many others in or going into high school hadn’t seen what were once considered staples in school culture. How many students had never been to a semi-formal, or a prom? How many students had never participated in a school barbecue? It’s an unfortunate reality, but it’s one that SAC and Andy Ganea hope to tackle head-on in the coming months.
If such events are to occur though, they will need to be communicated to the student body first, and thankfully, Andy’s already gotten a head start in terms of brainstorming. He’s considered a solid handful of strategies already, including the use of social media to more frequently connect with students and announce events, the development of an account to support graduating students with resources, collaboration with the WoodsClubs Instagram account, and collaboration with the Woodlands App Team. Of course, he’ll always have Woodstock as a platform, and I was sure to remind him of this as I asked him for any last words or addresses for the student body before we closed off for the night. He had the following to say:
“While I’ve only been in SAC for a very short time, I can still say that we’re still figuring things out. There’s a constant struggle between the ideas that we imagine and the ideas we can actually implement as events. So be patient with us. All of us in SAC are trying to make this year the best it can be, but we can’t promise absolutely everything. This year, we will make mistakes, and if we do make mistakes, that’s what grade reps are here for. You can openly communicate with us. I won’t take offense, I won’t attack, I’ll listen. Any executives will have the same open mind. So just keep in mind that we’re trying our best, and if you think we aren’t, then just message me and see how we can improve in the future.”
I, personally, can’t wait for what the foreseeable future holds from Andy as our Grade 12 SAC Representative.
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