Student council members (from left): Katya Leonov, Zach Feldman, Bonnie Ding, Dillon Kelly, Sarah Cruz, Jenny Bernarrd.

by Lindsey Berlin

The week of October 6 marked the first week of work for the student council of NYU’s study-abroad program here in Prague. The council is a pilot program for later NYU-in-Prague semesters, to see how student-organized events change and enhance the study abroad experience.

The student council’s goal this semester is to utilize student initiative to organize fun, well-attended events which will augment the study-abroad experience, said Jessica Majkowicz, one of the advisors to the student council. She hopes the staff-organized but student-run council will give a voice to students so that events will represent what the students want to spend their time doing.

The council sent out a survey on the first day of the fall semester, asking students what they wanted from their student council this semester. Based on preliminary results, the council held their first meeting, discussed feasible events and began planning them.

One example of such a weekly event took place the evening of September 8, when the student council invited the rest of the student body to the nightclub Mecca after the Osadní Jam Fest. Club parties were one of the most sought-after events, according to the preliminary survey results.

The council’s president, Dillon Kelly, said the student council’s aim is to organize at least one major event per month, with smaller events taking place weekly if possible.

The council also hopes to have a larger club night later this month. They discussed renting out a club and inviting students from other universities and study abroad programs, as a way of introducing NYU in Prague students to other parts of the community. They also discussed hosting a costume party for Halloween before students leave for fall break, and a mock-prom in December before the semester ends.

Majkowycz hopes that the council uses this opportunity to connect NYU-in-Prague students with the Czech community, and aid in turning the study abroad experience into an immersion experience. She is also excited to collaborate with other study abroad programs and universities for some of the events.

Zach Feldman, the student council’s vice president, said in an email that the council is there to respond to the wants and needs of the student body. In addition to club nights, the student council plans to organize tours of Vysehrad, a trip to the zoo and inter-dorm activities, Feldman said. The group has already provided students with tickets to a Czech ice-hockey match and subsidized tickets to a circus.

The council comprises eight students, with two advisors assigned to work closely with them. The council members volunteered back in the United States at NYU, where administrators asked students interested in joining the council to send in a letter of intent. NYU then organized a meeting for those interested, who then selected the officers from among themselves.

Darima Bátorová is one of those staff advisors, whose job this semester will be to work closely with the treasurer, Sarah Cruz. Bátorová said she is excited to work with Cruz to plan and organize events, as she has ideas and contacts she hopes the council will find useful. She explained in an interview that her official job is to insure that the budget is well-distributed over the semester and to collect bills for the university for financial purposes.

As a resident advisor in Slezská, she hopes that student council events will help balance the cultural immersion of RA-organized events with culturally familiar activities.

The council has been an idea for a few semesters, said Majkowycz. Though the council was organized by the staff, she notes that it is not driven by them – it will be students working with students’ ideas that will make the council a success.

She said the staff of NYU in Prague decided to form a student council as a result of the much larger success of student-organized events last semester, as opposed to events organized by the staff. The students last spring organized the first jam session in Osadní, and Majkowycz said its success is what prompted the staff to recreate the event this semester.

The student council is a pilot program in that the administration plans to evaluate the effectiveness of such a council. Majkowicz said that, if the work of the council so far is any indication, then the administration will most likely continue to have a student council in the future.

She just hopes there will be enough time in the semester for all of the council’s ideas to come to fruition.

Feldman said he hopes other students participate in student council, by coming to the open meetings or just emailing the council with ideas. He also mentioned the council’s status as a pilot, pioneer program as a motivating factor – he hopes that the council will succeed, and spur other NYU study abroad programs to follow their model.

The meetings will be held on Wednesdays at 3 pm, in the Dvořák classroom in Malé náměstí 2.

The other student council members are Abe Gutierrez, the secretary, and Chantel Williams, Jenny Bernarrd, Bonnie Ding and Katya Leonov, representatives.