At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, Niles North High School Principal James Edwards created the Principal’s Advisory Committee (PAC) to gain student perspective on school issues.

The three main goals of the committee all revolve around elevating student voice in school improvement issues and decision-making. Edwards also wants student perspective when it comes to teaching, learning, culture, and climate. Edwards wants to especially give voice to students who don’t typically have leadership roles. PAC aims to strengthen relations between the student body and the administration. “I definitely, as a student, felt ignored by the administration before and I wanted a more face to face conversation with someone like the principal,” Hannah Niederman, junior, said.

An application for PAC was sent out May 2017 via e-mail. Another e-mail was also sent out at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. The application process included an essay and an informal interview. There was no GPA requirement to apply. Although there weren’t many requirements to apply, only about 25 students applied and 13 students were chosen to be on PAC. Several members believe that because of the lack of applicants, PAC isn’t as diverse as it could be. “I believe the group could be more representative of the student body,” Hannah Wohlman, senior, said. 

Edwards had a similar group at the last school that he was a principal at, which inspired him to create one at Niles North as well. “It was a little bit less structured than on the way I envision it here because the student population at my former school, they weren’t as progressive and they weren’t attuned to some the issues we have here at Niles North,” Edwards said. 

Edwards believes that PAC will be beneficial to the student body because it expands the voice of students at Niles North. Students on PAC also believe that it will be beneficial because it will give students a way to communicate directly with the administration. “This committee will be very helpful because we can get things to Mr. Edwards due to us working closer with him than other students,” Mina Mari, senior, said. 

Students on PAC want to build better communication with the administration and want to help improve the school environment for other students. Students also want to hold the administration responsible for their actions. “I definitely want to make like the school administration accountable for like everything that they do and make sure that there’s student involvement, not just from PAC, but like from other clubs in like the choices that the school makes,” Niederman said. 

The club is brand new and is still figuring out when they will meet, but PAC is planning on meeting once about every few weeks. Meetings take place during the school day. The day and time vary for each meeting. The best way to learn more about PAC is to talk to Edwards or any of the members of PAC. The committee currently has two Co-Presidents Niederman and Maggie Lavengood, senior. Although members have already been chosen, Edwards is still willing to accept more students to add to the diversity of the committee.