Ryan Plante back for second year as member of Education Minister's Speak Out Council

Ryan Plante

Toni Lucas

Ryan Plante is a Grade 10 student at Matthew Halton High School who is facing a familiar challenge. He has been accepted for the second year in a row to the Education Minister's Student Advisory Council (MSAC), also known as the Speak Out Council. "I am on the Minister's Student's Advisory Council. You have to apply and be one of the 24 students in the entire Province of Alberta that is selected." The students are volunteers between the ages of 14 and 19 that are trying to improve and shape education going into the future.

This will be Plante's second year on the board. "Last year, I really built on my ability to speak in front of crowds," He said that it was good for his self esteem and organizational skills. "I can go out there, and be a leader, and be who I am."

The group gets together four times in a year. "We will be meeting this Thursday, in Edmonton. I am looking forward to it, definitely It is always a great experience. I'll be getting to meet everyone for the first time, and learning who I will be working with for the next year.  It is to learn their roles, and their responsibilities on the council."

"Our second meeting will be more focused on planning for the annual Speak Out Conference, and learning who we will be working with, and who we will be planning our sessions with. the third time we get together is actually during the conference, That's when we will perform our conference, and run all our sessions. Our fourth meeting is a wrap up. We say how we liked our Minister's Advisory Conference this year, what we think we can improve upon for next year, and just wrapping up the year.

"If there is things we need to collaborate on there is always stuff on the site we that we can go do. there is always surveys we can do during the year, and we have to write blogs every month as one of our responsibilities. That always get posted up on the Minister's website."  Plante is also a member of  Matthew Halton High School's Student Council.

Related Link:  Speak Out