King, a 2020 Illinois State graduate, is currently in his fourth year as an ESL teacher at Community, where he “supports the English language learner population . . . as they’re navigating the school system that we have here at NCHS.” Photo Courtesy: Mr. Ricky King

ESL teacher Mr. Ricky King was appointed Student Council sponsor at the start of the second semester, succeeding Mrs. Jennifer Cole.

King, Mock Trial co-sponsor, said his passion for student organizations dates back to his experience with Mock Trial as a high schooler. As a student at Hinsdale South, King enjoyed playing a witness for the club.

But now student organizations offer King a different form of enjoyment, as he adds Student Council to a list of organizations he oversees that includes the Hispanic Heritage and South Asian Performing Arts clubs.

One reason, King said, he loves sponsoring clubs and student organizations is it allows him to interact with “different group[s] of students” than he typically works within his ESL role.

Connecting with diverse “students outside of the classroom” influenced King to apply for the Student Council position when it became available.

The new role, overseeing 103 StuCo members, King said, “is stressful and anxiety-inducing,” but one he is excited to take on.

After the club’s first in-person meeting on Feb. 12, StuCo President Abigail Ruebush said the transition in leadership has been smooth.

King, Ruebush said, “strikes a perfect balance between being somewhat hands-on where he is fulfilling the responsibilities that he needs to,” while also “[keeping] at the forefront the fact that it’s a student-run club.”

“He lets us do things the way that we’re used to doing them,” the senior said.

One of those things was Feb. 17’s Daddy-Daughter Dance, an annual event where fathers and father figures accompany their elementary-aged daughters for an afternoon of dancing and bonding.

In preparation for the event, now in its eleventh year, StuCo solicited donations from the community, decorated the cafeteria and prepared an ice cream sundae bar.

King, Ruebush said, helped ensure the dance was successful for the nearly 120 families that attended, coordinating student workers and staff volunteers.

“He took a ton of initiative to contact a lot of the businesses himself,” Ruebush said, “and go pick up some of the things that we were raffling off,” items like gift certificates to Carl’s Ice Cream, Gill St., Orange Leaf, Altitude Trampoline Park, Ivy Lane Bakery and Artful Designs, and crowd favorite, an American Girl Doll.

For Associate Principal Mr. Anthony Clark and his daughter, Aaryn Kamille, the pair’s first Daddy Daughter Dance was a memorable experience.

The dance, Clark said, was an event his daughter “could cherish… remember for the rest of her life.”

Student Council’s next event, hosted with the American Red Cross, is Friday, Feb. 23’s blood drive.

Without the events that the Student Council plans, King said, Community “would be a place that doesn’t engage …with members of the [Bloomington Normal] community or with [other] clubs and extracurriculars across” the school.

The new sponsor sees StuCo as a kind of “social glue,” he said, one that “really ties our school together.”

Blood Drive Registration

A blood drive registration booth will be available in the auditorium during lunch hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Additionally, individuals can sign up online here.

Students 17 or older must provide their ID on Friday, and those 16 must have parental consent and their ID.