From holding officer elections, to leading pep rallies, hosting a Halloween dance, and riding on a float in the city Christmas parade, Student Council (StuCo) members helped make Kimmons a positive, memorable place to be.

Paige Robbins, Treasurer, joined the club to have a different perspective of Kimmons, express her ideas, and show her hard work.

“I felt like I succeeded in doing great things here,” Paige said.

What inspired Alexia Harris, 7th, to join was her curiosity.

“I also wanted some responsibilities as well as getting to plan things,” Alexia said.

Haven Brown, 7th, had a similar reason for joining StuCo.

“I wanted to help with all the fun activities for the school,” Haven said.

Kaylin Chanthavong, 7th, joined because she knew the club gives back to the community.

“I wanted to be part of that,” Kaylin said.

To prepare for the Halloween dance, students sold tickets at lunch, encouraged others to attend, and decorated the tornado shelter with skeletons, creepy LED candles, and strobe lights. The cost of the ticket included nachos, punch, and cookies. StuCo set a goal to raise at least $500 and exceeded that by raking in close to $700 profit.

“As kid after kid shuffled into the storm shelter, we realized that the dance was much bigger than we anticipated,” Mr. Padilla, sponsor, said. “With each intricate costume of movie characters, zombies, vampires, witches, and more, Dr. Florez and I looked at each other with pride. We knew we had met our goal to have a successful dance. This proved to be one of the most successful events in a long time, and we will surely enjoy putting on the Halloween 2024 dance coming next fall!”

Kayana Black, Secretary, enjoyed getting to run the music.

“I had a good time because the kids were enjoying themselves, especially when we played good songs that they suggested,” Kayana said.

Alexia liked the decor.

“Everything was well placed and thought out, including the blow-up haunted house,” Alexia said.

After putting on the Halloween dance, StuCo participated for the time ever in Fort Smith’s annual Christmas Parade. The theme for their float was “Christmas Extravaganza.” They decorated a flat-bed trailer with lights, giant candy canes, inflatables, and even a light-up dachshund dog. The students who rode on the float dressed up as characters from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

“Michelle Ward played the Grinch, and little kids stopped to shake her hand before we even started getting on our float,” Dr. Florez, sponsor, said. “They absolutely loved her, and she was a good actress. The kids ended up having a good time, and their behavior was great.”

“I enjoyed seeing everybody waving at us and looking at our float,” Melanie Ledesma, 7th, said.
Evilin Ramirez, 7th, agreed with Melanie.

“We got to wave at kids to make them happy,” Evilin said.

Kaylin Chanthavong, 7th, also enjoyed seeing all the kids on the side.

“They were happy and enjoying themselves,” Kaylin said.

Paige appreciated how well the float turned out.

“The parade was fun, and everyone had an amazing time,” Paige said.