One great thing regarding OHS is the number of opportunities it has for students to succeed. However, with multiple clubs, sports, and classes, it can be easy for some activities to be overlooked. One of these is SSAC: Superintendent Student Advisory Council.
SSAC is a district-wide organization that includes students from every DVUSD elementary, middle, and high school, and teaches the concept of student leadership. The point is to take students who are close to their potential of becoming a leader and bring it out of them.
“The SSAC has been in existence for the past 25 years. It has evolved over time to be less of a ‘District Student Council’ and more of a ‘student-leadership development’ pipeline. Each DVUSD Superintendent develops the concept when they take over. I like where the concept is today because of the quick and strong development of the students into school and community leaders,” said Dr. Curtis Finch, Superintendent of Deer Valley Unified School District.
Along with SSAC, there is a board of 10 students, two from each high school in the district, that make up the Superintendent Student Executive Council. SSEC helps run SSAC, keeping members on track and planning meetings leading up to the summit.
“I’ve grown to love being a leader for the district and setting examples of its mission and vision by making sure each person’s voice is heard,” said Soli Tibebu, an executive member from Deer Valley High School.
The summit takes place every March and is something that over 300 DVUSD students attend. The ages range from fifth grade all the way up to 12th.
“SSAC is a very good program that helps kids of any age to be more socially aware of what happens,” said Samantha Blay, junior OHS attendee.
Every year the summit has a main objective with multiple stations that support the idea. With this year’s theme of ‘Wellness Wonderland,’ many activities were about how to keep yourself and others happy.
“I thought the summit was really good. It definitely made me more aware of things that happen around me, like how fast rumors spread for the communication station. The activities definitely helped me with that,” Blay said.
The 2025 Summit featured six main groups to expand under the Wellness topic: Physical, Mental, Relationships, Hygiene, Communication, and Tech. The Advisory council members all created different activities for each subtopic in order to captivate attendees’ attention for the duration of the Summit.
“SSAC members strive to educate DVUSD students in an engaging and enlightening event, held annually where relevant, inspirational activities are presented to over 300 attendees, who then share what they’ve learned with their school,” said Setasha Bybee, organizer and head of the student leadership council.
Many of the advisory students put their all into planning their station, as they know the potential impact it can have on someone.
“I like teaching life lessons and incorporating the ideas that other schools in the district need to improve for the long haul,“ Tibebu said.
For members, just being part of the council can create new paths that otherwise would not have been discovered for them.
“With a little bit of guidance and opportunities to fail in an encouraging and structured environment, students learn that they can work with kids from other DVUSD schools to be a contributing member of society. SSAC allows students to work on a project that is bigger than themselves for the betterment of the entire school district and its 34,000 students,” Dr. Finch said.
The biggest issue with SSAC, however, is how little information is known to most DVUSD students. Even attendees often don’t know what it is for, they are just invited to go.
“I didn’t know anything about SSAC. I got the information about it about a week before, and then I was given the shirt and told that I was going,” Blay said.
In more recent years, the council has been trying to expand its outreach. As announced at the past summit, there is now an Instagram account (@ssac.2024) available for the public to be able to see some of what happens throughout the year.
“More work is yet to be done to further expand the message of SSAC so that all DVUSD students benefit from the councils’ work,” Bybee said.
That being said, SSAC is popular among those who know about it, and the executive spots are a very competitive position that most high school members strive towards.
“SSAC has grown its reach to all DVUSD students quickly over the past several years. More students than ever are eager to join and participate,” Bybee said.
Overall, the Superintendent Student Advisory/Executive Council is an underrated organization that provides students with numerous opportunities to blossom in their leadership skills and is unique to Deer Valley Unified School District.
“The members will impact learning and leading for years to come,” Bybee said.
