President of Student Council Justine Chan

Justine Chan DP1A

I started my leadership journey here at SISHK in S1, as a wide-eyed student councillor. I vividly remember my first Student Council meeting: it was a Wednesday lunchtime, with the cool air of autumn permeating every classroom, and I recall feeling nervous and unsure of myself as I walked into the 405 meeting room. We were asked to introduce ourselves, and why we’d run; shakily I stood up and mumbled something along the lines of “helping to make the school better”. Five years later, although I, my peers, and the environment around me have changed, the message has remained the same.

I am excited to see what we can do for the student body in attempting to attain that message of improving the school: our goals for the year will be to connect the student body to the school administration, to cultivate a vibrant school spirit and robust school pride, and above all, to create a lasting legacy that future students can benefit from too. We’ve already hit the ground running after the commencement of this academic year with Spirit Week, Halloween dress-up day, and the initiation of the first stage of the Suggestions Scheme. These events and services have enabled us, as our future plans will, to improve the environment that we study in as students, and to really allow the students’ voices to be heard. The beauty of what the Student Council can do is that we aren’t just serving the current student body: what we choose to do and the impacts of that, can have long lasting effects that future students can enjoy too. It is this opportunity to make change that motivates me to run for the Student Council each year, and is what I hope we accomplish in the forthcoming  year.

There is, of course, always conflict between the big ambitions we proclaim, and what we can actually achieve – there are challenges that we have to overcome, but these help to make us better leaders, students, and citizens of the school community. This kind of trepidation and uncertainty is exactly what I felt before I was selected as the President of the Student Council. I was worried about the difficulties and obstacles ahead, and sought help from an alumnus who was the president of the SC during my first year. Junette Yu offered great advice, and is another testament to why she has been my inspiration and role model over the past few years: she guided the council in a way that felt confident but not overbearing, made everyone feel listened to and important, and accomplished great change within the school. In the months to come, I hope to emulate that model of leadership, and bring the Student Council to greater heights.

To do so, aside from the bountiful events, initiatives, and services I mentioned previously, I aim also to focus on improving the inner mechanisms of the council itself. As part of an internal initiative to elevate leadership, councillors and I participated in the inaugural Hong Kong Network of Student Councils Conference, where we listened to, exchanged ideas with, and learned from the other Heads of Student Council or government in other international schools. This kind of leadership sharing is a key component of what I hope to be able to bring to the council in the coming year.

I am incredibly grateful and honoured to have been elected to this position. I am so excited to see what we can accomplish, and I am looking forward to making a change for the better at SISHK.