Seunghee Lee, ‘19
The Executive Council Conference took place on March 10, marking the start of another busy year for the members of the HAFS Executive Council. Members of the Representative Committee, GLM (Global Leader Monitor), and the representatives of the Stu-dent Council gathered to set plans for the first semester and reaffirm the pledges they have made. The conference lasted for 2 hours and 30 minutes and many of the current problems of HAFS were discussed in heated debates.
The Representative Committee
The Representative Committee focused their goals on setting an effective system for gathering the opinions and complaints of the students. “We will focus on collecting student opinions through online systems,” said Ji Hyun Yoon, the chairman of the committee. The Representative Committee opened an online site where they gather students’ opinions both anonymously and openly. The anonymous site is opened through a google form and students are able to write their problems, complaints or suggestions about a topic and suggest solutions. Class meetings are conducted freely, which means that class presidents now are free to open class conferences when their individual class schedules are open. Ji Hyun Yoon and Jae Wan Kim, the vice chairman, are leading the Representative Committee this year. The Representative Committee will focus on making a system for better collecting students’ opinions.
Global Leader Monitor
GLM, (Global Leader Monitor) be led this year by Hyung Nam Yoon and Hyun Woo Jung will be focusing on a greater variety of issues and specifying their role of keeping order in HAFS. The Mock Trial Com-mittee of GLM planned holding two unofficial mock trials this semester, one before the midterm and another between the midterms and the finals. GLM plans on opening its courts to the students this year. “If everything works out successfully, we will be able to hold official student mock trials again in this school in the second semester,” says Hyung Nam Yoon, the Chairman of GLM. GLM has already conducted the Cafeteria Manner Campaign and the Silence Campaign. The Cafeteria Manner Campaign is about restoring order in the cafeteria on issues like the eating time by the grade and effectively lining up the students. The Silence Campaign, on the other hand, was about educating study room etiquette to the freshmen and other students who violate it. GLM will also be assisting the student council on various events.
The Student Council
The Student Council conducts a wide range of events from the Manito Events, HAFS Festival to selling the Summer HAFS T-Shirts. Each of the nine committees discussed their plans for this year and each committee will continuously post their plans throughout the year. The main issues the Student Council already tackled this year are the club admissions, the HAFS Festival and the sale of summer HAFS t-shirts. The new club admissions started on March 13. For new clubs to be admitted, they had to pass a standard decree, have a stable system and specific plans for the year. The HAFS Festival will take place in May 25 and a new system will be used in the HAFS Festival. The Council planned this year’s voluntary club booths and the Night of Passion (performance events).
According to Jean Kwon, the vice president of the General Affairs Committee, the summer HAFS t-shirts had to gain the approval of some of the teachers be-fore being sold. The procedures went smoothly and the students received the t-shirts after the midterms.
Task Force Team
The Task Force Team is a new system that has been introduced by the Student Council but will be con-ducted independently by students who wish to gather and create organizations freely to fight for a cause they believe in or for a change they wish the bring to HAFS. The Representative Committee, Global Leader Monitor and the Student Council will be offering aid to these students in areas that they need additional advice or help in. But ultimately, it will be the stu-dents who conduct and create a proposition and open a one-on-one meeting with the teachers in administra-tion and proposing solutions to issues. This system was made to enhance communication between stu-dents and teachers. “This new system will be dis-cussed with the teachers, and with their approval, we will hopefully be able to open this passage for the students,” said Hyun Min Kang, the president of the Department of Domestic Academic Affairs and one of the founders of this new system. The specifics of the Task Force Team will soon be introduced after the teachers’ official approval.
In this age of rising conflict in HAFS, the Executive Council has never had such a high responsibility. The Executive Conference has ended but the real work starts now. Welcome, new Executive Council Mem-bers. We expect diligence and contribution in your work for the first semester. Make this school a better place for the students.
HAFS Harbinger 