The Warsaw High School Times

Article by Eliza Pietrzak

Graphic by Cytrus Batory

In Batory, the student council plays a very important role in the school’s life. They are responsible for organizing bigger and smaller initiatives, creating a vibrant atmosphere, and making sure that everything is running well. They have their own ideas, but they are always welcome to different proposals. Recently, we have asked Piotr Orłowski – our president of the student council – a few questions about the elections, as well as the current ruling party – Cytrus.

Q: As most of our readers are from outside of Batory, could you briefly explain how does the voting system work?

A: The entire process begins with the announcement of school council elections. Then, the candidacies of students are collected and, along with their candidacy, they must declare the names of the members of their (party) staff. Then, the election campaign period begins, lasting approximately 1.5 months. During this period, candidates announce their demands and make every effort to gather as many voters as possible. In the week preceding the election date, there is a debate, organized in our beautiful school auditorium, in which the candidates for president and 2 people from their staff take part. During the debate, candidates present themselves and their parties in a 3-minute speech. There are questions asked by the moderators of the discussion, then there are 2 questions from each party. Each party has 30 seconds to answer, and the answering task cannot take longer than a minute. After this part of the debate, there is a time for questions from the audience, after which the debate ends. A few days after the debate, elections are held, during which students mark the candidate’s name on prepared ballots. The election results are announced by the electoral commission, which includes students and their patron teacher.

Q: What are your thoughts on it? Is it useful and fair the way it is, or should it be simplified?

A: Yes, absolutely, I believe it is working. Not only it is a reliable voting system, but it also contributes to breaking the routine of the school year.

Q: Since you are the president of the student council, what are the most important things you need to consider when running for this position?

A: Certainly which ideas should be implemented and which ones should not. We have a lot of ideas on what can be done at Batory High School, but as we know, it is impossible to do everything, so some of the ideas must be rejected.

Q: What do you enjoy most about your position?

A: The opportunities it offers at school and beyond. This position gives me a sense of real influence on my community and the ability to work for it. It also gives me an opportunity of meeting many interesting people.

Q: What is, in your opinion, Cytrus’ most important postulate?

A: I believe this is support for student initiatives. After all, the student government is a body of students and is supposed to work for them, so it can do nothing better than support them in striving for their goals and help as much as possible in finalizing their ideas to make school life more attractive. I also believe that the return to the school tradition, which was a festival of cultures – the Tower of Babel, which we managed to organize for the first time in several years, was an important postulate. It is important to renew school traditions, and the event itself turned out to be very interesting and received a very positive reception from the students.

Q: What would you want to achieve in the future, with Cytrus?

A: As I am taking my final exams next year, I do not intend to run for re-election. I am happy with everything we have achieved at school and beyond, and I hope that the party members will continue its activities in the upcoming elections. However, even though I am no longer the chairman of the school council, I do not intend to give up getting involved in school initiatives and helping to finalize them.

Student councils in high schools are definitely a step-up from what we have seen in elementary school. People are far more engaged, have much more experience, passion and determination. These are some of the qualities of members of a well-run student council. As from what I have seen so far, these are definitely qualities I have seen at our school.