About fifty students have applied for the new Community Council which will run community service at the Upper School next year. Applications were due last Friday, the selection for the council will be made by Feb. 22 and the council members will be announced the following week at class meetings, Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church said.

The Community Council will consist of 12 people from all three grades at the Upper School.

“We are looking for students that have a genuine interest in community service,” Church said. “We are looking for someone who has showcased or shown in the past that they are able to fill such a big responsibility. We are really handing the power over here.”

Council members will take over the current responsibilities of Director of Community Service Jan Stewart. The council members will have the power to redefine the whole community service program, and since they are the starting council, they will define the job, Church said.

“They will have the power to change it all,” Church said. “We have tried very hard to not pigeonhole this group of students by empowering them to decide how they will best serve the Harvard-Westlake community.”

The council will be treated as a class and will be built into the various schedules of the members.  The council will be distinct from the Prefect Council, but they will collaborate because “they have a common goal: bettering the Harvard Westlake community,” Church said.

The idea of the council came about during the beginning of the year and Huybrechts was a major influence in the decision. The council was a major collaboration between various school administrators, including school chaplain Father J. Young and Church who will be the advisers of the council.

They hope that the council will be “more in touch with the student body” and be able to improve the community service program.By Neha Nimmagadda and Michelle Yousefzadeh