One of the most prolific and dynamic groups in the City of Gary is the Gary Community School Corporation’s Intra-City Student Council. The Council body consists of members from Gary’s three remaining high schools - New Tech Innovative Institute, Westside Leadership Academy and Wirt-Emerson Visual and Performing Arts. There are approximately 40 Council members who are elected student council members, elected officers from each graduating class, and elected past officers.
The Intra-City Council meets on the second Tuesday of each month. Each school has a sponsor that works with Council members from their home school locations. They work on projects with administrators, attend meetings, student mediation and other projects.
The school sponsors who act in a leadership capacity are: Marilyn Mixon, Westside Leadership Academy; Antionette J. Ferguson-Dixon, Wirt-Emerson VPA, Leach C. Tennione-Hogan, New Tech Innovative Institute. The Councils operates under the auspices of Dr. Albert Holmes, Executive Director of Innovations and Improvements, Federal Programs for the Gary Community School Corporation who lends tutelage and acts as facilitator of the Council.
Council members exhibit pride and enthusiasm as the professionally conduct their meetings and work on solutions. They are exemplary and committed with a high level of respect for their peers and those in attendance. All ideas are taken into consideration and everyone participates. The meetings are conducted by the students in parliamentary fashion under Roberts Rules of orders.
The governing body consists of representation that includes not only the council president and accompanying members, and also includes a parliamentarian, moderator and a sergeant of arms. One of the major projects entrusted to the Council is putting together the program for the Gary Education Development Foundation’s scholarship fundraiser. The event culminates in January at a convocation ceremony on the Martin Luther King’s holiday.
Currently, the Council is working on the logistics of the Upcoming FACE (“Family And Community Engagement”) Summit, which will take place on Saturday, March 28, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. The program is designed by the students from beginning to end. The instructions to the Council is to put together a program that is based upon the celebration of Black History month or centered around Martin Luther King’s vision that will bridge the gap from the past to the future.
The Council is currently diligently working to put together a program with a narrative around conversation with parents regarding the generational gap. The program will include breakout sessions and role play modules on the importance of parenting, communication and knowing your teens.
The most outstanding attribute of the Council is the dedication and commitment of each member. They have an enormous amount of pride for their community and are defensive, understanding that there are problems elsewhere, but are very loyal and steadfast to the vision that they are the key to changing the future.