How do you get 47 North Kingstown High School students to show up to the first meeting of a largely unofficial event? It seems that posting on Facebook and sounding a little like this ought to do the trick:

“Hey, doing stuff like this is not in my nature, but I wonder what the reaction would be to making a student union.”

Jacob Yopak, Senior, says he got the idea for a Student Union due to “a combination of an English class and talking about it with others.”  Yopak said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the turnout. “Ms. Roye was talking about how she was dissatisfied with the teacher evaluation systems, and it seemed everybody in my class had similar views”, said Yopak, who then “decided to do something about it.” Senior Autumn Guillotte was also instrumental in organizing the club’s first meetings.

A total of 47 students from both last year’s Junior and Freshman classes at North Kingstown turned up at the first meeting. Yopak said he had made a loaf of chocolate-chip banana bread, expecting it to feed only a loaf-sized amount of interested students. He admitted that now that the interest is ovbiously high, the club may need to “get a bigger space”, and said laughingly that he could, “instead of cake-based refreshments, set up an hordoeurv-style buffet.”

Besides Yopak, there have been other students who have been instrumental in the founding of the group and its race to become an organized club recognized by the school.

Ellissa Barclay de Tolly, Senior, says that she thought the idea for a student-driven union was probably also inspired by the fairly recent Active and Engaged Citiznship course (better known around the school as simply “Democracy”) which is a requirement for graduation at North Kingstown.

Barclay de Tolly added that in Democracy class, kids become more informed about issues in their community and “learn what their options are for fixing those problems.” When asked about the fact that most of the Student Union consists of Juniors (at the first meeting, there were only four freshman in attendance), Barclay de Tolly mentioned that “as a Junior, taking Democracy is required; and since the Juniors are just taking the class now, they’re probably already in the mindset to be active”.

However, a somewhat structural problem that the newborn Student Union faces is that it is not recognized by the North Kingstown Administration as an official school club.

Sironen says that a request to become a club “is presented to the AP for Management and Operations to review and discuss with the deans and other administrators”, who decide if the club or organization is a good idea for the school. Sironen is one of the individuals in charge of handling clubs at North Kingstown, and would be one of the first to review the Union’s justifications.

It doesn’t seem like there is much for any of prospective North Kingstown SU members to worry about, though. North Kingstown High School currently has roughly 36 school-sponsored clubs, including a prayer group, a literary magazine, and a mock trial team not listed on the school’s website.

Senior Luis Aldrete by saying that he also thought this was important, but repeatedly urged participants to “make sure the change is positive, because if [the group] gets a negative reputation, it won’t look good to put on a college resume.”

The prospective Student Union has been unofficially meeting in the room of English Chair Ms. D’Ellen Roye, room 308.

However, the Student Union hopes to find a work space and a way to become a club somewhere in the near future… so that they can perhaps give Roye some peace and quiet in order to grade the essays her sophomores are composing on “The Crucible”.