Teenagers Vote 1996


It’s difficult to ignore the current political climate of our neighbours to the south, two weeks today is election day for America and already over 29 million people have cast their votes. We often talk about firsts as teenagers in this blog – first kisses, first day of school, first friends –  and voting for the first time is right up there as one of those formative milestones.

But before we were of age to vote, we experienced politics in a different way: student council.

In my final year of high school, my dad would drop me off early every Monday morning to attend our student council meetings as head of publicity. We would all group together in the library conference room – head of arts, athletics, grad, social, student services, secretary/treasurer, vice president and  president with our faculty supervisor Mr. Kent – and brainstorm ways to better the student body experience.

In our yearbook, a little poem was written to commemorate that time, so here it is, with 2020 commentary:

"THE YEAR BEGAN WITH A BUNCH OF GRADE NINES, SIZZLING IT UP AND DANCING QUITE FINE."

(Ah, grade nine semi-formal - where you danced hands on shoulders in weird awkward circles. In the '90s, if you were dancing with the person you WANTED to be dancing with when the 8-minute Stairway to Heaven song came on, gold! If not? It was the loooooonnnngest 8 minutes of your life… am I right?)

"MR. FAROOQI LIT UP THE SCHOOL WITH A BANG, PEOPLE RAN THROUGH THE HALLS AND FIRE BELLS RANG."

(Yes, one of our chemistry teachers did an experiment that created an explosion causing the school to be evacuated. Where was social media when we needed it?)

STUDENT SKILLS WERE REWARDED THROUGH ALL OF OUR SHOWS, TITLED "TALENT" AND "COFFEE" AND THEN THE "JUNOS"

(For our American readers, the Junos are like Canadian Grammy’s, but without all the fun stuff.) 

WINTER CARNIVAL DAY WAS QUITE A SUCCESS, ALTHOUGH SLUSHY CONDITIONS LEFT THE CANAL A BIG MESS.

(But let’s be honest, the canal is just code for getting to eat Beavertails.)

SKIING AND BOWLING WERE BOTH STILL A GO, WITH TEACHERS IN NETS, INDOOR GAMES WERE A SHOW.

(But it was NEVER the teachers whose head you WANTED to kick balls at…)

WE PUMPED UP THE SPIRIT WITH ADAM AND DREW, BUT THE MOVIES AND DANCES WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT YOU.

(Please refer to the Stairway to Heaven note above…)

SPIRIT WEEKS RETURNED, OF THEM WE HAD THREE, WITH LINE DANCING AND BANDS AND BYOB.

(Ah, the innocent days when beverages meant pop and juice… and by that I mean hiding your real  “beverage” in pop and juice.)

WITH WIENER BOBS AND GREASY WATERMELON, LUNCH WAS NEVER A  BORE, THOUGH CLEANING UP AFTER WAS ALWAYS A CHORE.

(I don’t know who came up with the idea to cover entire watermelons in Vaseline and then make a relay race across the foyer out of it, but that person was a genius. And yes, a complete disaster to clean up. And why didn’t we play it outside you ask? Two words: Canadian winters.)

AS WERE THE MEETINGS MONDAY MORNINGS, WHERE WE WOULD PIG OUT AND PLAN, GEE CRAIG WHERE ARE YOU? JASON'S LATE AGAIN AND AGAIN (AND AGAIN AND AGAIN)

(Because any meeting in Canada is not complete without a box of Tim Hortons donuts to pig out on, or Timbits, either will do.)

BUT WE DON'T CARE DUKE OF YORK, BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES AND GOOD LUCK IN THE FALL!

(YES! High school is over, let adulting being!! (Um, yeah, about that…)

Student council was a great experience, and it really did teach us about democracy – choosing who you wanted to represent you and thought would do the best job in the coming year. And I remember all of us working really hard to make things the best we could.

It helped that we had a great team led by a killer president named Liane Costner – a female president and a male vice president in the 1990s? We were ahead of our time in the best possible way in some respects…

It’s simplistic to say that it’s too bad politics can’t be more like those student council days, where we worked together in a constructive and collaborative way to bring about the best possible outcomes while staying on time and on budget… but it begs the question, if a group of seventeen-year old kids can do it…

I’ll leave it to you to finish that little hypothetical.

On second thought, here's a more important question to leave with - in today's current climate, what processes and methods would you employ…

… to carry a Vaseline covered Watermelon 25 feet across a foyer without dropping it?

Love,

Grace

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