On Sunday, Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy announced in an all-school email that junior Willa Wible will be the Student Staff Council president for the 2026-27 school year. Wible, who is entering her fourth year on the council, will succeed graduating senior Grace Khuzami as president.
On Friday, May 15, junior representatives and presidential candidates Wible and Jonah Levy gave campaign speeches to students and faculty, who voted through a Google Form.
After the candidates’ opening remarks, Wible and Levy took turns answering questions from students and faculty in the audience. (Levy is a sports editor for the Bit.)
In her speech, Wible said her goals as president would fall into three categories: major assessment weeks, assemblies and facility changes.
Wible said she wanted to alleviate students’ anxiety during major assessment weeks. “This system puts an unnecessary burden and stress on teachers and students alike,” she said. “One solution is to set guidelines for regular grade updates that would occur after new assessments.”
While only four departments at a time are allowed to schedule tests during major assessment weeks, the scheduling constraints can sometimes cause students to have major assessments in every subject even during weeks not designated for major assessments. Wible suggested changing the policy for major assessment weeks to make it easier for students who may have multiple majors in a single week.
Another of Wible’s goals is to increase attendance and student engagement at high school gatherings. Wible said she thinks Monday Meetings “have felt unproductive if the goal is to create a forum to bond as a school.”
Wible suggested forming a committee of students to give feedback on assembly speakers before GDS schedules each assembly. In her candidate statement, which Killy sent to the high school on May 11, Wible said the students would look at potential speakers’ presentations to get a sense of how engaging they would be at a GDS assembly.
The last category Wible spoke about was facility changes in the school. She said she hoped to get more appliances, such as toasters, for the Internet Cafe and to better the calculator charging system in the library. Wible suggested relocating the chargers to a safer area and requiring each calculator to be labeled with the owner’s name.
During the question-and-answer section of the assembly, junior Sean Keeley asked Wible and Levy how they would support student–administrator relationships during Tori Jueds’ transition into the head of school position.
“I think one of the most important things that we need to make clear from the new administration is ‘This is what the GDS culture is like; these are our traditions,’” Wible answered. “We need to maximize our opportunity to be heard by the new administration and frame our concerns in a compelling manner.”
At Friday’s assembly, Wible emphasized that she was focused on carrying out tangible change, citing as verifiable contributions to the GDS community her work on SSC to form partnerships with Farmer’s Fridge and Playa Bowls.
“[In the past year], SSC worked a lot on things like community engagement,” Wible said in an interview with the Bit. “But those are really hard goals to actually measure and show people, ‘This is what we’ve done.’”
Wible explained that actionable change is where she will diverge from Khuzami, who focused primarily on community engagement and student participation in school functions during her term.
“I’m someone who likes to create changes that you can see,” Wible said. “I support deadlines, because I think having deadlines can promote progress, and it’s a good way to make sure everyone’s staying motivated.”
Prior to finding out that she won the election, Wible said that, win or lose, she wanted her candidacy to serve as a reflection of how much she feels she owes to GDS. Wible has attended GDS for 11 years. “This community has given me so much to be grateful for,” she said at the end of her speech. “I pledge to lead with integrity, accountability, and respect for every voice in this room.”