September is over, and that means student leadership positions are starting to fill up. This year, Student Council elections are taking place in the fall instead of last spring because of COVID-19. The race for Student Council president was held last week, and senior Alex Hollander one the position of Student Council President, running uncontested. Hollander has been at PDS since Kindergarten, and this will be her 13th year here. She has been involved in sports which she noted, “have taught me so much about leadership, perseverance, and compassion, which I consider to be super helpful skills.” Last year she also served as Vice President under alumni George Ma, and she hopes to follow in his footsteps serving the PDS community.

Student Council meetings usually function similarly to a Harkness model; all the grade representatives and leaders sit and collaborate on the production of proposals, events, and ideas. There will obviously have to be a shift of this structure to accommodate possible virtual students as well as social distancing rules. The logistics of this will be determined at the moment after all leaders have been elected.

Hollander hopes to further this year’s theme of unity in council, taking action to bring the community together, no matter how small. Some ideas she has pursued thus far are small competitions, virtual events, and just silly little ways of bonding the members of the Upper School. Even if the activities are not necessarily educational, she hopes they will be able to serve as fun entertainment during this stressful time. Even though it’s a challenge to find ways to come together since physical togetherness is not permitted, Hollander hopes that, once the newly elected council members all come together, they can work on thinking of ideas and have more incredible brain power than ever before.