THE COMMITTEE OF INFLUENCE Today at 8 pm a high tech meeting took place, livestreaming on the Internet. The meeting is a biannual happening in the school that has just recently gone viral. It’s a good, and mildly entertaining, way to bring forth your ideas to improve the school and student life.
The meeting was hosted by a bunch of enthusiastic Kungsholmers (Amalia ES2A, Michaela EN3B, Olivia N2C and Sebastian EN1B) on a live webcam, huddling cosily on a sofa somewhere in Stockholm suburbia. Headed by Amalia, students were encouraged to post their ideas on a live messageboard. The meeting got off to a bit of a slow start, so to entertain the crowd, stab member Sebastian confessed a very personal secret: the color of his toothbrush. But soon a flood of messages appeared. Students from every part of the school seemed to have a never ending flow of ideas, ranging from realistic to ridiculous.
Ideas like a school prom for the third graders, study rooms for students, a Halloween party and a ping pong tournament passed with flying colors and quickly formed “referral groups”, getting their own chatrooms to discuss and plan their proposals. Other ideas such as Vindar’s (N3B): “Vi kunde skaffa bord utanför skolan (där bänkarna är) så att man kan sitta där och plugga/äta/stå på bordet och strippa etc, vad sägs?” proved very popular… Or Student Union Leo’s fantastic festival idea: “Tält och öl!”.
By the end of the meeting several referral groups had been made and lots of fantastic ideas suggested. The chat functioned very well enabling students to share suggestions with the Committee of Influence without having to leave the comfort of their own homes. However, it could have been improved by engaging a few more active members (it felt a bit empty at times), and some English speaking participants.
Before closing the chatroom, Amalia shared her favourite joke, a hopeless Swedish play on words: “Det var två älgar som stod vid en sjö. En av älgarna badade och den andra frågade varför. Då svarade den första älgen “Med det är ju älgjaktsäsong, och då vill man vara ren!”.
All in all it was a successful meeting that will hopefully yield great outcome.