Student Senators
- Declan Amaral, All Saints Catholic Secondary School
- Sophie Nwaoha, Father Leo J. Austin Catholic Secondary School
The 2021/2022 Student Senators include:
- Connor Keeling – St. Mary Catholic Secondary School
- Reinna Love Mauricio – St. Mary Catholic Secondary School
- Jasmine Irwin – Archbishop Dennis O’Connor Catholic High School
- Sky Rodas – Archbishop Dennis O’Connor Catholic High School
- Renuka Premnath – Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School
- Tempestt Mpofo – Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School
- Elizabeth Akanbi – Father Leo J. Austin Catholic Secondary School
- Issac Wureta – Father Leo J. Austin Catholic Secondary School
- Victoria Fitzpatrick – All Saints Catholic Secondary School
- Kathleen Dyment – All Saints Catholic Secondary School
- Selin Alrishani – Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School
- Faith Farayibi – Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School
- Kaitlyn Carswell – Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School
- Aisosa Agbontaen-Moses – Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School
The Student Trustees presented the Student Senate's 2021-2022 Year-End Report. Student Trustees Amaral and Nwaoha shared the Student Senate's Pillars of Advocacy - Equity and Inclusivity, Student Well-Being, Student Outreach, and Ecological Sustainability.
Some highlights of the presentation included:
• Equity and Inclusivity - Meeting with Senior Admin Team, presentations supporting students equitably, advocating for equity and inclusivity in board policies and practices, ensured that Black History Month celebrations were taking place in every school, plus the distribution of free menstrual products for students, and the use of more gender neutral language in communication materials.
• Student Well-Being - Promoted mental health resources and opportunities on the Senate Instagram, worked with staff to ensure mental health supports were in place during spikes of pandemic and pivots to online learning, and Senators met with school administrators to discuss COVID-19 safety and its affects on students' mental, physical, and social well-being.
• Student Outreach - The Senate continued to release the "Senate Star" newsletter highlighting events from DCDSB's seven secondary schools. Student Trustees met with student councils to discuss issues facing students during the pandemic and they also continue to ensure that school groups such as GSA clubs, equity groups, and mental health groups were established in all of DCDSB's secondary schools.
• Environmental Sustainability - The Student Senators released a social media Instagram post for Earth Day that included tips for students on being environmentally sustainable such as following the reduce, reuse, recycle motto, volunteering for cleanups in their local communities, conserving water, and cutting down on individual and household use of plastic.
• Celebrated the Return to In-Person Events such as art installations at Archbishop Denis O'Connor Catholic High School for Black History and leaders in the school and community, food and donation drives at All Saints and Notre Dame Catholic Secondary Schools; celebrating food and culture at Msgr. Paul Dwyer Catholic High School, and helping to promote the Student Census at all of the board's secondary schools.
Provincially, the Student Trustees were also very active - Student Trustee, Sophie Nwaoha was the Co-Chair of the OCSTA-AGO Equity and Inclusivity Working Group. The working group provided resources for student trustees and leaders on advocating for marginalized groups, created a handbook to shine light on the intersectionality of mental well-being and equity in education, and released posts on the OSTA-AECO Instagram related to equity and inclusivity.
Student Trustee Declan Amaral served as the Catholic Board Council's Vice-President representing nearly 600,000 students at the provincial level, advocating for 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion, and provided professional development and learning opportunities for students and student trustees. Trustee Amaral was a member of the Executive Council advocating on behalf of 2.2 million students across the province as the official student stakeholder with the Ministry of Education. The Executive Council hosted conferences for student trustees across Ontario and worked with partners in education to create change for students.
The student trustees thanked Trustee Forster, Superintendent Wilson, Vice-Principal Travis, and Director Barill for their ongoing guidance and opportunity to serve DCDSB students in a leadership capacity.