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Leena Memon - StuCo President

Leena Memon and Vivian Tan, Bergen County Academies’s new Student Council President and Vice President, have been continuously working together to bring new improvements to the school. Some of their recent projects include PowerSchool, Therapy Dogs, Destress Fest, food giveaways, and new videos. 

Leena Memon, a junior in AEDT, has been involved in the Class Council and Student Council since her freshman year. After losing by only 4 votes for Vice President of Class Council, she ran again at the end of her freshman year and was selected for the position. “I realized I loved the organizational aspect and the fact that you get to make these types of decisions,” Leena said. “After that, I ran for Treasurer in Student Council, and eventually made my way to President.” Aside from StuCo, she enjoys Girl Scouts, SPARK, FFA, and the yearbook. 

As the Student Council President, Leena is responsible for organizing school events and communicating with administration.“The President specifically is the one who coordinates all of these events. I’m also the main person who serves as the communicator between the administration, Student Council, and general student body.”

Leena also shared challenges regarding communication. “The hardest part, I would say, is finding that balance between working too much on Student Council-specific and administration things that I lose what the normal student in this school wants or cares about.”  

Vivian Tan, a junior in AAST, has also been a part of the Class Council as academy representative and Student Council Class Representative and Secretary, and she is now Vice President. “I decided to run for Vice President this year because I thought that I did want to take on a bigger role in the council. I also have experience working with Leena, so I thought that we would make a nice team with her as President and me as Vice President.” 

As the creator of the Student Council Instagram, Vivian also wants to continue sharing pictures of student life at BCA and maintain a positive school-spirited social media presence.  

Aside from the many projects that the Student Council are working on, Vivian also shared her individual plan for making an introductory video featuring all Student Council members, as well as monthly videos to replace the newsletters. “If it were a video, just a short 15 seconds of a different member each month saying what we’ve been working on, what we did, and our plans, then just overall, people would be more interested in that.” Vivian says it is her goal to make being a part of Student Council not only a job and responsibility, but also enjoyable for everyone. 

As President and Vice President, Leena and Vivian have been able to hold more meetings with administration, and this is one of the most crucial roles they have. Participating in these meetings and seeing the new policies implemented is something that both girls enjoy. “I really enjoy having discussions with administration, both with the rest of the council and just one on one, because I think it helps increase the understanding of both what they’re doing and they understand more of what we have to go through at this school,” said Leena. 

The majority of Student Council meetings have recently been focussed on the Destress Fest, in order to give all students a chance to meet the new therapy dogs. The Student Council intends to give students a chance to participate in numerous de-stressing activities, one of which includes the therapy dogs, as part of their Physical Education classes. 

The Student Council has also been working on many other projects, including the installation of feminine products in bathrooms, meeting with the superintendent to discuss possible changes for PowerSchool, monthly surveys, detention policies, the Student Council website, and free food giveaways. 

Both Leena and Vivian also expressed their goals to increase communication between students and make sure that everyone is aware of the projects that Student Council works on.

“In reality, we’re doing a lot for this school,” said Vivian. “Being able to share that with the students I think could benefit all of us, especially for them to know that we’re working for them and to help them.”