The Future of Student Voice

Once a cornerstone of school leadership, the student council is now struggling to attract members. 

Student council applications were opened for the 2025-2026 school year in February. Students interested in being a part of student government were encouraged to join. As the deadline approached, excitement gave way to silence. Only a small handful of students picked up an application. This left many to wonder: why don’t students care?

Of the 11 freshmen who picked up an application, 4 dropped out; Of the 11 sophomores,  1 dropped out; 9 juniors picked up an application but 2 dropped out. Student Body applications were postponed due to lack of applicants. At the moment, we have 5 and 3 remaining vacancies. 

The same lack of involvement can be seen in voting as well. Out of 190 students in the class of 2026, only 71 voted in the recent April election. For the class of 2027, 93 out of 211 students voted. In the class of 2028, 83 out of 181 students voted.

Many at LHS agree that this lack of involvement has become a problem, but we cannot definitively say why.

Cassie-Anne Jacinto, out Student Activities Coordinator (SAC) states that “With less applications, it provides less choice for students during elections.” As a result, she worries, “there may be less diversity in student voice.”

“Student Voice”

According to The Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals “the organization of Student Council grows out of the desire of the educator to make principles of democracy operative in the school.” 

For this reason, researchers Smith, Miller, and Nadler defined a functioning student government as something that can “provide important outlets for students to be engaged in making decisions for the welfare of the entire campus.” Student Council is designed then to train students “to bargain, negotiate, and advocate for others whom they represent.”

Student Council, says sophomore Xeila Santiago, is “a group of students elected by their peers who plan events, represent the school, and try to make their school environment a better place.”

For years, we acknowledged the importance of the student council at Lahainaluna. But what will happen if students and educators no longer have this desire?

“Student Council is not listening…”

For some students, the dismal turnout may be connected to student distrust. “If students don't feel like their voices will actually be heard or that their participation will make a difference,” says senior ASB President RJ Arconado,. “They may not be motivated to get involved.”

An anonymous freshman thinks that students may distrust the Council, under the assumption that they, the Council members, “are not being effective in making a change.” He thinks they may be “too lazy to make a change.”

Similarly, junior Aden Ross thinks that “people are very bored and people won’t be interested in joining or participating.” This, he added, could come from “students feel[ing] like Student Council is not listening to their ideas.”

Recently, Jersea Borneman reported on the student council’s ability to make changes.

Emma Batson believes the Student Council lacks transparency and does not let students know what is truly going on.

“They’re saying they're gonna communicate with us,” says Batson. “I've never heard any of them coming around, talking to any of us, getting our opinions on things, asking us.”

“The possibility of failure”

Sophomore Mina Nagasako offers a different view of the problem. She feels that students are either “not committed in general or may be intimidated by competition.”

The publicness of StuCo may make students “afraid to be judged by their fellow classmates,” says senior Sarah Cariaga, adding that a student may be judged by “their ideas or just receive comments from students.”

“Students are afraid of the possibility of failure,” thinks sophomore Keyla Jimenez, who imagines that  challengers have a harder time since “they have to get people to remember their name while the person they are running against is already known on campus.” While this was true for 5 races across grade levels, interest was so low this year that many of the spots lacked an incumbent. 

Because the Student Council pushes people out of their own comfort zones, intimidation can also stem from public speaking and the possibility of being a known leader on campus.

Lahainaluna’s Principal Richard Carosso comments that “there is an amount of courage required to put yourself out there. It’s a little harder for kids to take that step outside of their comfort zone and lead.”

“People are just lazy”

There are less interesting reasons for the decline in participation. For instance, some students may be lazy or lack the initiative to do something.

“Student council can be a very stressful position if you don’t have the correct people helping you,” says junior Aden Ross.“No one wants to spend most of their days planning events, people are just lazy.”

“Perhaps students feel overwhelmed with their workload between school, outside work, and outside activities,” biology teacher Arica Lynn suggested. “It might be a challenge for them to stay involved in student council and even other opportunities here.”

“The lack of wanting to join comes from laziness,” offered sophomore Kaliyah Cutty. This is less about students and more about timing, she says, since the race “happens towards the end of the year when most students are drained and don’t feel like doing any additional work.”

While it is possible that this is teenage “laziness,” students may just believe that someone else will take on the job, meaning they don’t have to.

Our student Activities coordinator (SAC), Cassie-Ann Jacinto, believes that student turnout can be chalked up to the“bystander effect,” or a situation in which someone does nothing because that person “expects someone else to step up.”

“People would rather just watch people do things,” she added.

“We’re still recovering”

Jacinto points out that she has learned while talking with other Student Activities Coordinators that “there has been a decrease in engagement, not just at Lahainaluna, but also at other schools”  

She notes that the recent fall in participation may have started with COVID, but , at our school, it may have been drawn out by the 2023 Maui Wildfire.

“We’re still recovering from the fire, and people are trying their best to come to school, go home and keep the cycle going,” Arconado says. “Some don’t even live in Lahaina, so student council is a hard thing to commit to for those not living in town.”

Similarly, teachers are also preoccupied with current struggles to the point where they cannot engage with students as much as they used to. 

Carosso says, “it’s harder for everybody. For all of our kids, our staff, and our families to get involved. It’s just harder all around than it was.”

“Like minded individuals”

Offering incentives to encourage involvement may play a key role in increasing interested applicants. Recognition, acknowledgement throughout the school year, and celebration of student council members may seem miniscule now, but may go a long way. 

Arconado adds that one benefit to joining student council is “that you are surrounded by like-minded individuals that if you keep them close you will soon then call your best friends.”

“The school can encourage student council participation by recognizing their efforts and planned events,” said an anonymous senior.

Moreover,  if students see that Student Council is not only working, but also something enjoyable, students may feel more inclined to join. This comes from a council’s ability to effectively plan events that make students feel welcomed.

Conversely, if the Student Council appears ineffective and dysfunctional, “our legacy as a student council will go down to the dump,” says Arconado. 

Carosso says he has “confidence and faith that Lahainaluna–being Lahainaluna–-is the one place that can restore that kind of drive.”

“We couldn’t do much this year,” said Arconado, “but I hope that in the future we can get cooler events to showcase what the Student Council has to offer.”

“So fun”

Because student council is the backbone of school-sanctioned events, such as homecoming and spirit weeks, a lack of involvement may cause planning and organizing conflicts. 

A year of this may make the situation worse, creating more challenges with filling positions or having dual positions,” said sophomore Treasurer Lucia Mejia. If this current trend were to continue, students who are overly-involved may also experience burnout as they take on more responsibilities.

“Events like lip-sync are so fun,” Science teacher Jacquelyn Ellis lamented. 

This past year, student engagement was so low that lip-sync and assemblies had grade levels forfeiting, or events were canceled altogether. “It used to be a really big deal,” said Ellis, “and it’s been sad to see less students participate.”