Hundreds of student council members gather at WVW for regional conference

PLYMOUTH — Wyoming Valley West High School had a half-day Friday, so students left at 10:30 a.m. Yet a half-hour later there were still some 500 youngsters having lunch, walking through hallways or sitting in classrooms.

What was up with that?

The the school hosted a regional conference of the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils, with high school and middle school students from 32 schools across 16 Northeast Pennsylvania Counties converging in the gym shortly after 9 a.m. for some awards, activities and speeches — including from State Reps. Aaron Kaufer and Alec Ryncavage, both WVW grads.

Then they broke up into smaller groups to attend workshops in the classrooms left empty by the early dismissal, each student able to take two workshops, with a break for lunch.

The students who opted for social equality workshop by Zero Carreras — a junior at Pocono Mountain West High School — talked about everything from making name tags hat reflected your personality to teenage suicide, comfort zones and equality vs. equity vs. justice.

“The topic is personal and important,” Carreras said as his workshop wound up. despite his age, this was his third year running a workshop at a regional conference. “We have to step outside our comfort zone sometimes, understand that we’re the change.”

The student council members in his workshop, having traveled anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour and a half to get to the conference, agreed, and said the event was informative and worthwhile. They also agreed that the overwhelming majority of student council members in their respective districts were mostly — and in at least one case, all — women.

“Boys just don’t seem interested,” one said.

While the Social Equality workshop may have seemed a bit lofty, there were more pragmatic offerings, including managing a council, planning a school dance, and hosting a lock-in. On its website, pasc.net, the organization touts “developing, engaging and celebrating leaders.”

While the conference meant that the classrooms and hallways were abuzz with activity long after most WVW students had left, near lunch time the crowd did include a different kind of guest. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey team mascot Tux made an appearance in the main entryway, greeting and high-fiving students as the crowd worked its way to more classrooms or to the provided lunch.

Tux didn’t say if he is also a student council member.