Jimmy Gallivan (right, blue shirt) with Student Council advisors Brenda O’Shea and Kevin Rogers.
As a junior at Somers High School, Jimmy Gallivan has risen to the top of the school’s Student Council, serving as its president. Now he will make an impact much more far-reaching as a member of the first ever National Student Council.
Gallivan will serve as the New York State representative on the council, which was started this year by the National Association of Student Councils (NASC). “I’m honored to have been chosen to represent the concerns and ideas and perspectives of New York State on the national level,” he said.
Last May, 10 officers were elected to the national council. Earlier this month, one representative was chosen from each of 25 states and several territories, said Tyler Dashner, managing director, growth strategy, with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), parent organization to the NASC. (Representatives will be chosen from half of the states and territories each year on an alternating basis, Dashner said.)
Gallivan learned that he had been chosen Sept. 10 and met his counterparts from other states in a virtual introduction the following day. The members were chosen by the state Student Councils; Gallivan joined New York State’s council a year ago.
“Jimmy has a great combination of traits that make him an amazing leader,” said Brenda O’Shea, the Somers High School student life coordinator. “He is hard working, a good listener, and has a positive attitude. His style of leadership is to build consensus with peers, and that has been clear in both his work on the New York State Council on Leadership and Student Activities board and on our Somers High School Student Council.”
“Jimmy sets a stellar example of all that Somers students achieve,” said Somers Interim Superintendent Harry LeFevre. “His devotion to assuring that all voices are heard makes him an ideal council member to represent his fellow students throughout the state.”
In the new role, Gallivan will be invited to help run the National Student Council Conference in Chicago in early 2025, Dashner said. In March, the national council will travel to Washington D.C. to meet with members of Congress, the Department of Education, and possibly White House staff. The members will join about 400 principals and assistant principals from across the country that NASSP will send. A key topic is expected to be the need for more mental health services in schools.
The NASSP formed the National Student Council, Dashner said, because “we saw an opportunity to leverage the power of our advocacy work with principals and assistant principals and extend that to students.”
To be eligible for the post, high school students had to have served at least two years on a student council. Gallivan vastly exceeded that criterion, having been a student council member since fifth grade at Somers Intermediate School.
“At the time, I wanted to find a way to have my voice heard to be able to hear other student voices,” Gallivan said, adding that he and other student council members wanted to know “what we as students can do to make sure that whatever is going on is helping the school grow and flourish as a community.”
