Junior Maeve Hennessy was recently elected Secretary of the FCPS Student Advisory Council (SAC). Hennessy is the first student from WS to be elected to the SAC Board in eleven years.

The SAC consists of student representatives who voice the opinions of FCPS students across the county. There are twenty-seven high schools on the Board, each with four to six student delegates, but only three positions: President, Vice President, and Secretary.

This year, Hennessy, along with seniors Maddie Chase, Grace Vaughn, and Megan Seykowski, are the WS delegates to the SAC. After Hennessy casually took notes during the first few meetings, however, she knew she wanted to run for secretary.

The process of running for secretary involved making a video and speaking to a panel of student delegates. Questions from the audience ranged from asking what Hennessy planned to bring to the table and her leadership qualifications to asking how many words she could type in a minute.

“My video was bad but I was articulate. I think they were relating to me,” said Hennessy. “I talked about Spartans Against Human Trafficking and how that’s a huge problem in Fairfax County and as one of the officers I would definitely make that a more talked about subject.”

As secretary, Hennessy’s job is to take detailed notes during meetings, which next year’s SAC will use as a reference. She also writes thank you cards to everyone who comes to the meetings. Officers are responsible for setting agendas as well as giving presentations.

“I really enjoy student government and stuff like that, but SAC is a lot different than a class officer or a class president or an SGA president, because in SAC, you’re doing things that affect the entire county, not just your school, and it’s more of that interconnectedness with different schools that I like more,” said Hennessy. “I’ve met people from different schools that I never would’ve met if I didn’t do SAC.”

The SAC meets twice a month to discuss ways to improve FCPS. This year, the SAC is focusing on three main topics: Sustainability, Health and Wellness, and School of the Future. Each of the three officers heads one of the topics.

“I’m heading the Health and Wellness group not because they placed me there but because personally I wanted to. I think that there’s such a strain on students, especially in Fairfax County,” said Hennessy. “I want to be able to help people’s mental health first in order for them to excel in school. With mental health, you get to dive into the personal connections between people, because we can all relate on that sort of level so that’s what’s important to me.”

SAC members have the opportunity to converse with FCPS leaders including Superintendent Dr. Scott Braband about issues that concern the students. Through meeting these higher-level figures and offering feedback about each of their schools, SAC members can give FCPS leaders a better understanding of what students want.

“I think WS is such a good school and we have so many good qualities. We’ve just never had representation on a larger scale,” said Hennessy. “WS needs its time to shine because I think we have a lot of really great students and ideas. That’s personally what I want to try and do. There’s more opportunities at the end of SAC to do something bigger in the county and I would love to be able to do that so I can bring WS’ voice higher up.”