When Duncan Middle School Student Council officers and sponsors met during the state conference in November, they discussed some big changes. Those changes have now come to fruition.
The DMS Student Council recently added four officer positions to the current officer slate. Instead of just having president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and reporter, the StuCo group added a parliamentarian, and three grade-level representatives to give each grade more voice in the organization.
Paige Bates and Kayan Patel, both DMS eighth-graders, attended the Oklahoma Association of Middle Junior High Student Councils (OAMJHSC) state conference in Poteau, serving as proxies for two officers who were unable to attend. Both students were chosen by the officer slate to serve as co-parliamentarians for the remainder of the 2025-26 school year.
During December’s DMS Student Council meeting, Student Council members were offered a chance to run for the grade-level officer positions. The members voted on these positions in January, where they elected Georgia Jeffrey as sixth-grade officer, Gabriel Hernandez as seventh-grade officer and Case Howell as eighth-grade officer.
These students officially took office in February.
“Yes, I am happy to be the representative because I can get more involved with school stuff,” Hernandez said.
He said he wants to serve the students in his grade by taking suggestions and letting student voices be heard. He is looking forward to working with the other Student Council officers, including the other new grade-level positions.
Jeffrey said she wanted to serve in the grade-level position because she likes to speak to people and wants to do a good job of representing the sixth-grade class. She said she wants to encourage people to speak up, which she thinks will help improve Student Council going forward.
“I thought it would be fun,” Jeffrey said.
For Howell, being the eighth-grade officer is an opportunity to help move Student Council in a positive direction. He said he has a lot of ideas for StuCo.
Howell said it’s important for the officers to listen to other students, and he wants to do his best to listen to what the students in his grade need and want.
In addition to this year’s changes in the officer panel, elections for next year’s officers will take place in April.
A change is also being made to the elections, as discussed among officers and sponsors, to where incoming seventh and eighth-graders will be able to run for vice president, secretary, treasurer, reporter and parliamentarian. Only incoming eighth-graders will be able to run for president.
