Baker HS senior who helped launch McNamara student council in 4th grade returns to help group spread cheer

As a fourth-grader, Jackie Boutilier, saw an opportunity for McNamara students to get more involved with the school, the school district and the community.

Jackie wanted her elementary school to have its own student council.
 
In her English class she was assigned to write a persuasive essay and Jackie took the opportunity to make her case for the creation of a student council.
 
The essay landed in the hands of McNamara’s principal at the time.
 
The following year, during the 2011-2012 school year, the student council was up and running.
 
“I saw a lot of things that could help our community,” Jackie, 11, told The Post-Standard in 2012. “I thought this would be a cool way for our students to get involved.”
 
On Wednesday afternoon, Jackie and fellow Baker senior, Jordyn Grady, volunteered at the student council meeting. Student council members under the guidance of advisor Kristin Zimmer, a fifth grade teacher, decorated bags, lunch bags and placemats for Baldwinsville Meals on Wheels.
 
The students wrote festive messages and drew holiday pictures to spread holiday cheer to those receiving meals from Baldwinsville Meals on Wheels. Jackie and Jordyn, who were both took part in the first year of student council and are both planning to go to college to pursue careers in education, helped the students with the decorating.
 
Jackie said she was amazed by the current student council members, and proud that the student council is still going strong.
 
“It makes me so happy that something I did when I was 10 years old is still making people happy,” she said.