BRFHS SENATE GOALS

To be a visible and approachable forum for BRFHS students

To foster communication between the students, staff, administration, and school board

To celebrate achievements of our diverse student body

To promote a positive and future-oriented atmosphere for students

To promote academic excellence among BRFHS students

To promote the development of civic skills among BRFHS students

OUR HISTORY

The BRFHS Student Senate was established in the fall of 2004.  We held our first general elections on September 21-22, 2004 with 30 candidates seeking 12 spots on the Senate.  We had a 57% voter turnout over the two days.  Here is a summary of our highlights each year, starting with the current year:  

HIGHLIGHTS OF YEAR #4:  2007-08

• Rachel Colloton was selected as Senate President in the fall of 2007.  Our other officers are Vice-President Kelsey Olson, Secretary Levi Miles, and Communications Director Brooke Stittleburg.

• We established a source of funding for the Senate in late August by doing stadium clean-up after each of the home football games.  The money earned will be used each year for some type of project.

• We continued with the Recycling Initiative and actually had our first pick-up of the year on the third day of school.  This program was begun in the 2006-07 school year and has been quite successful.  

• In early September, even prior to our elections, we began the "Block 2 Announcements" project that we continued throughout the year.  We eventually changed to the start of the school day and involved Senators reading announcements and leading the pledge.  The tone of the announcements has been to highlight student and staff achievements and to promote the "Caught in the Act" Award, whereby students and staff are recognized for deeds of service and/or exceptional actions that have been a great benefit to someone.  Hundreds of students were recognized through this process.    

• In October we held a Constitution Ratification Vote and received overwhelming support for the revised Constitution.  We also surveyed students during the voting.  

• At the end of November the Senate endorsed Wisconsin SB 132 related to Native American mascots and school names.  We followed the endorsement with letters of Senator Vinehout, Assemblyman Musser, and Governor Doyle urging our support for the bill.  

• We established an "On-Line Forum" for student discussions in October and began soliciting student opinions on several subject.  

• In late December we passed our second resolution of the year, this one related to the filtering of Internet access in the school labs and computers.  This topic generated a lot of discussion by our students.  

• In December we began discussions concerning the possibility of using Senate funds to sponsor a child, either through a world-hunger organization or some other venue.  The Senate endorsed the idea and we began the process of exploring several possibilities.  We finally arrived at the idea of helping sponsor the education of a Tibetan girl named Tenzin through an organization in New York known as TibetAid.  We finalized the sponsorship in February.  
  

HIGHLIGHTS OF YEAR #3 (2006-07)

• On September 26-27 we held our third round of Senate elections with a 48% voter turnout, short of our goal of 60%.  Susie Arndt served as the third President of the BRFHS Student Senate.    

• On October 12-13 we had our ratification vote for the Student Senate Constitution.  39% of the student body participated in the vote with 89% voicing approval for the revised Constitution.  

• We had a busy fall with voter education this year.  We did a mock election in our school to coincide with the national mid-term elections.  52% of our students participated.  

• Thanks to Ms. Horan and her students for serving as election poll workers for us again this year.  

• On December 14th the Senate unanimously approved a resolution to implement a recycling program at BRFHS.  This initiative came from students and had been in discussion for several months.  

• In January two students from Eau Claire Memorial -- Nick Brott and Todd Lindblad -- visited with several Senators about a project they have worked with for two years that raises money for the "young soldiers" of Uganda in Africa.  Brott and Lindblad have worked to develop a bike ride from Eau Claire to Madison that results in fund-raising for this effort.  

• On Monday, February 12th, we officially began our recycling project in fulfillment of the Resolution passed in December.  We ultimately did over 30 "pick-ups" in our first several months of operation.  This was done in conjunction with the Science Club and will continue next fall.  

• In late February, several BRFHS high school students took time to speak with 8th grade social studies classes concerning the R.A.C.E. Initiative at the high school.  This program was originated in early 2005 to help foster better relationships among students at BRFHS, particularly dealing with issues of race and diversity.  

• In late April, 9 Student Senators participated in something called County Government Day an annual event sponsored by the Veteran's Service Administration that seeks to introduce local high school students to County government.  This was our first year of sending Senators to this event.

• On May 1st, after several months of planning and discussion, the Student Senate, in conjunction with the Wakcik Wa Cek Club established a Flag Display near the south entrance to the high school.  The display highlights the United States, Wisconsin, and HoChunk flags and illustrated both our unity and diversity concerning political jurisdictions.    

HIGHLIGHTS OF YEAR #2 (2005-06)

These things happened in our second year:  

• We held a second round of school-wide elections with a 60% voter turnout (September of 05).  Senior Chris Zahasky was our President this year.  

• The Senate Constitution was finalized and secured student body approval -- 55% voter turnout (October of 05)

• We unanimously passed Resolution 2-1 in December which set in motion a number of initiatives.  Some of our members met with the administration to solidify language in the Student Handbook related to dealing with "hate speech" in our school.  Some of our members began working with the National Honor Society on the "Voices of the River" Project -- a student literary publication that focuses on diversity at BRFHS.  We began the process of developing a Mural Project with Ms. Perry (Art Teacher).  The mural will be created to emphasize our diverse population.    

• We purchased the Senate Display board for improved communications

• Regular meetings were held between the Senate leadership and the Administration in which student concerns were voiced.  Along with that, a fairly extensive survey was conducted in which student opinions on a variety of topics was solicited.  

• We continued to develop a leadership program among the Senators related to working for productive changes within organizations.  

• The Senate staged a successful fund-raising/donation project related to leukemia research.

• Finally, we promoted a "First-Voter" program with 18 year olds related to the spring elections in Wisconsin. 

HIGHLIGHTS OF YEAR #1 (2004-05)

Throughout the year we accomplished several things.

• We had regular meetings between our leadership and the administration, meetings that led to many student concerns being heard and acted upon.  Several changes that have come about this year in our school came from those meetings.  Senior Kristy Ebert served as our first President.  
• In the fall we sponsored a highly successful school-wide mock election and a “first-voter” drive with our seniors
• We represented the students at the district level in a process known as “functional analysis.”  This related to developing a plan for projected cuts in spending that the district may have to deal with in the next couple of years. 

• In early 2005 we initiated something called the RACE Initiative (Respect and Character Education).  This involved many things including leadership development, discussions related to the topic of respect in our school, and engaging students in open discussions concerning race relations at BRFHS. 

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