BellTime Magazine Autumn/Winter 2016 6 | Page 66

BellTime 6 pt2:Layout 1 23/09/2016 20:03 Page 66 BellTIME The Irish Second-Level Students union are the national umbrella body for student councils all across Ireland. We are an organisation run for students by students! 2015/16 in a nutshell Exam Blogs Events held Every year the ISSU recruit students who are doing their Junior or Leaving Certificate to write blogs the evening after each exam. Teenagers all over Ireland tune in every evening to read people’s opinions and these opinions can be very reassuring for students when others have the same thoughts as them on a paper. We held our Annual General Meeting in March which brought together 150 students from around Ireland to elect the new National Student Executive, to discuss the work plan for 2016-2017 and debate proposed amendments to the constitution of the organisation. Also in February, we invited 70 Dublin students to a 1916 Commemoration event in Trinity College, in collaboration with Dublin City Council. 66 Training for Student Councils Cluster Events We hold a number of local student council meetings or We are active in delivering “cluster events” in the early Student Council training to months of the year. We contact member schools, assisting schools across Ireland to invite students and parents with student councils to attend concerns they have cluster meetings in their area regarding subjects and state to discuss local issues exams, and helping schools affecting students, national to set up democratic and student issues and possible transparent student collaborations between councils. different student councils. As a result, we are successful in connecting and empowering students to become involved and become representatives for their schools and peers.