Who has the power? Who wants the power? Who needs the power? Typically when you think of a high school these questions don’t come to your mind. However, recently, inquiries about the student leadership of our school have arisen.

At White Station there is a group of sixteen students who lead, direct and form the plethora of possibilities that the student body has. This group is better known as the E-Board (the executive board of student council) and hold a fair share of responsibilities.

They are at almost every school event and have part in the planning and execution. This usually goes unnoticed by the students of White Station. That is until something goes wrong; subsequently, instead of clapping hands, there are accusatory fingers.

Moreover, we can’t pick out the faults while discarding the benefits. Yes, this team is not perfect. There are problems at the center, just like any leadership team. Especially this school year, people have begun to see an inconsistency in how well E-Board performed last year compared to this year. As of now, three members are no longer apart of the team. But the real issue here is not how well they are doing vs. how bad they are doing; it is how much control they have and how the team was formed.

“They’re just there for school events, they have green shirts. It seems like some popularity thing,” Bayley Whitehouse (12) said.

Each and every student on E-Board is elected to their position by the members of student council. Occasionally, students are voted on the board because of their status at school, but there are also students who have worked hard to get where they are. If we want the right people representing our desires, then we have to pick the people we think will do us justice. Currently, the board members are attempting to do just that.

The notion that E-Board has large amounts of control is enough to make anyone envious, but the big question is do they really have as much power as we think?

“No, because they just plan many events, not make major decisions, “ Bronwyn Jones (12) said.

“Yes, there should be more student input,” Whitehouse said.

This word power can hold a good connotation, but it can also be kept in the negative light that it is currently being shown in. No one can simply have power; they are given it. If E-Board truly has “too much power,” then they did not get that way overnight. This is something we need to realize.

Our school may not be perfect, and the students may not have all the power. We may choose to believe that one small group controls everything for the majority; leading to envy among the student population. But the true power that each and every student has, regardless of who is in charge, is turning these negative reactions into controlled changes.