Clarisse Schneider – Catholic Board Council President

Halton Catholic District School Board

 

Clarisse Schneider, a 12th-grade student at St. Ignatius of Loyola CSS in Oakville, is a second-year Student Trustee from the Halton Catholic District School Board and is this year’s Catholic Board Council (CBC) President of OSTA-AECO.  She is a passionate advocate of the importance of Student Voice and the participation of students in the forming of their own education.

Clarisse has been involved in Student Voice since the first student forum, based on cyberbullying, in 2007. Attending and facilitating conferences and forums became a regular practice in her journey for education. She has spoken and participated in multiple discussions on various topics such as Equity and Inclusion, Student Voice, 21st Century Teaching and Technology, and Global Awareness. In its founding year, Clarisse joined the Minister’s Student Advisory Council (MSAC) and was a contributor to the “Nine Indicators” that resulted. Within her school, she has run multiple Speak Up projects with grants from the Student Success branch of the Ministry of Education.

Inspired by a student trustee she met on MSAC, Clarisse ran for and was elected to be a Student Trustee for the Halton Catholic District School Board. Among the many initiatives she helped to facilitate, she was elected chair of the CBC Equity and Inclusion Committee. Through her work on that committee, she knew she wanted to get involved even further into the amazing organization called OSTA-AECO.

Along with her passion for student voice, Clarisse has an intense interest in music. As an ARCT-level violinist, Clarisse has been a participant and winner of many local and provincial music festivals.  Most recently, she is the winner of the Marta Hidy Concerto Competition with Orchestra Toronto, as well as the Senior Young Artists Competition with Symphony Hamilton. She has played with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra for the past 3 years, and has held the position of concertmaster with the Mississauga Youth Orchestra and the Halton Youth Chamber Orchestra . 

Clarisse has also been highly involved in school and academic programs. She is a Shad Valley Alumni of the Lakehead campus over the summer of 2011, and has contracted a passion for engineering from it. Within her school, Clarisse has been a part of the Debate team, Eucharistic Ministry, Music Ministry, Jazz Band, Student Council, Prefects, Programming Team, Academic Quadrathalon, Math League, Mock Trial Team, School Newspaper, and Social Justice Team. However, she isn’t all work and no play; Clarisse has played left wing for the Oakville Hornets since she was six and will always make time to be part of a hockey team.