Freshman hoping to represent their grade on community council crafted statements describing their qualifications. These statements also describe each student’s goals for the year.

Jonathan Brewster

I think, I would be a good candidate because I’ve been at Hackley for a long time and I understand how the school works and I understand what my classmates want. I also work well with other people and I’m a good listener and could advocate for my grade. I think I’m a good representative of my grade, and I feel like I could get things done.

At my time at Hackley I’ve done community service such as food banks, soup kitchen and clothing drives. I’ve also been a part of the diversity club during my time in middle school. I’ve also been a part of the homework helper program and done park cleanups.

My goals if elected would be to just have a fun and productive freshman year for not just me but for also the rest of my classmates.

Max Calman

I’m very interested in supporting and bettering Hackley’s wonderful community. I really want to listen to my friends and peers to help get what they want in the community to happen. I believe it is very important to have a real representative in community council as opposed to someone pushing many of their own ideas without taking into consideration the ideals of the community as a whole.

Since coming to Hackley in 6th grade, I’ve done community council for both my 7th and 8th grade years. I’ve also already signed up for the Student Ambassador program for my upcoming year. I’ve put through multiple proposals during my time in Community Council and I’ve also planned many events. I hosted a kid in Round Square from Canada in 7th grade and was a homework helper way back in 6th grade.

If elected I want to be a true representative of the student body and try and put through different ideas that come straight from the community.

Sydney DeFilippo

I want to help out my grade and the school, and I think community council would also be a very good experience. I wanted to run in middle school, but wasn’t sure, so I think this is the year I should try.

Other than trying my best to be a dedicated and respectful student and friend, I haven’t contributed much to the community overall, which is something I definitely want to change this year.

As of now, I’m still outlining my specific goals, but I know generally that I want to improve the quality of grade activities, hear from my peers and take their suggestions into account, contribute to the community, and get to know my grade and the school better.

Meredith Greenberg

After spending a year at a therapeutic boarding school (going to be a bit vulnerable here) I learned a lot about myself and leadership. During my eighth-grade year at Hackley, my life quickly devolved into chaos and I lost both my sense of self, and sense of place in the community. Now that I’m back, I have gained strong leadership and interpersonal skills, such as being able to put myself aside and focus on the needs of others and the community, putting in extra work to achieve a goal, and working with others instead of at others. The difference is being willing to actually listen, and take into account what others are saying, instead of only thinking about my point, and what I’m going to say next. I also have a good work ethic, strong motivation and commitment, and a passion for working with others and achieving something greater than myself. I am skilled at both liner and abstract thinking, which makes me an excellent problem solver. However, I am not perfect. Sometimes I struggle with speaking up and reaching out, which has been a challenge for me for a long time. However, my flaws make me human, and like all humans, I have the potential to grow and improve on my flaws. Besides, humanity is a trait that makes me likeable and relatable as a leader. I think being on the community council will be an excellent opportunity for self-improvement, which will, in turn make me an even more productive student council member.

I believe that as soon as someone walks through the doors of Hackley, they have already contributed something to the community. I’m not just saying that– I really mean it. As a (somewhat) new student to Hackley, I believe what I contribute as of now is my potential. During 8th grade, I relinquished my potential as a Hackley student to my own personal issues. Now, I feel that I have been well equipped to handle all the challenges and opportunities that Hackley provides. My high school career at Hackley is a blank slate– I have the power to become not a so-called “better person”, but the best possible version of myself. It is during my next four years on the hilltop that I can become an artist a musician, a scholar, a friend, an activist, a role model, and a leader. I have the opportunity to contribute my own personal greatness to better the Hackley community, and create a lasting impression on the school that only I can put there.

My goals are to use the skills I have learned at boarding school to help develop the interpersonal, intrapersonal, and global effectiveness of the members of the Hackley community, and of the community as a whole. What I mean by this is that I want to enhance the ways in which we communicate, interact, and work with others in the community, ourselves as individuals, and with the global community outside of Hackley. This is a fairly broad goal, so I will narrow it down a bit. In terms of interpersonal effectiveness, I want to help my peers learn more effective communication, conflict resolution, and self-advocacy. In terms of intrapersonal effectiveness, I strive to aid peers in having better self-care and emotional awareness. Being a high school student is extremely difficult and stressful, so self-care is essential to being an efficient and effective community member. Also, all of us have emotions! Being more aware of how we are feeling helps improve other areas of communication. As for global effectiveness, the skills we learn here at Hackley are the ones that we carry with us for the rest of our lives. Learning leadership skills and having social awareness and sensitivity is crucial to become a functioning and productive member of the greater global community. I want to help the community build all of those things. I know my goals are ambitious, but by taking on small chunks at a time, I believe that all of this is possible.

Michael Potanin

I would be a good candidate for Community Council because I feel I can strongly contribute to the Hackley community. First off, I know my peers very well from previous years, and I am getting to know with the 30 or so new kids. Secondly, I have strong leadership skills, as I was elected in 6th and 8th grade. Finally, I am an optimist, and always listen to suggestion that students have with an open and thoughtful attitude. I’ve known Mr. McLay for a long time now, and I will be thrilled to work with him if elected.

I love Hackley community since I joined it back in 2009. I have done community service by spending two weeks of my time during the summer being a counselor at Hackley for the youngest members of the Hackley community and absolutely loved it. I have volunteered at the soup kitchen, run by Hackley, multiple times. I have also guided many of the kids who came to Hackley in the middle and lower school to make Hackley feel like home to them, as it feels to me.

My goals are to create a fun, positive, and interesting environment for my peers during their 9th grade year. I want their opening year of high school to be a blast. Should the students have a suggestion, or want to speak about an issue, they can feel free to come to me any time.
In terms of my goals: First, I want to make the workload and intensity of high school as pleasant as possible. Second, I will advocate for social activities that help during challenging academic pursuits. And finally, I have gained great skills in planning long-term events at Hackley and will gladly offer my expertise.

Emily Rossman

I’m hardworking, a good listener, extremely organized, willing to compromise, and will be a good advocate for the grade as I enjoy public speaking.

I’ve played soccer at Hackley for three years. in Eight Grade I lead a community service project through a program, Teen Works, which I am now the Vice President of, in which we sent out hundreds of toiletry kits to children affected by the Hurricanes in Puerto Rice. I know I haven’t done a lot yet but I’m eager to do more, and as a member on the council I would have the opportunity to do so and to have a greater influence over the Hackley community.

Some of my goals include making the school day at Hackley more fun, in ways that include dressing the freshman hallway in Hackley propaganda and having raffles or competitions between advisories that result in certain advisories getting a dress down day or a prize brought to them during day 7 advisory period. I’d also like to assist the students academically. For example, have students create email chains within their classes so that they have a network of students to contact if they have missed any class or have questions regarding homework. I’d also like for teachers to email their students their schedule so that students and teachers can easily find a time to meet if need be. I would mainly like to help the students in my grade reach their full potential with access to other students and teachers, and also by making the school day more fun.