WEST MONROE, LA. (KTVE/KARD) — The Louisiana Association of Student Councils has held their annual state convention this weekend at West Monroe High School entitled “Your Passport to Leadership”. The event has brought together middle and high school student council students from all over the state.

Student officers and members of the West Monroe High School (WMHS) student council told us about their lengthy preparation for the event.

“We’ve been planning probably for the past four years, like just ever since I got to high school we’ve been planning hosting convention. COVID really messed everything up because we were supposed to host the year after or the year after that. But everything just ended up being this year,” said Alyssa Nix, Secretary for WMHS student council.

Cooper Thornton, WMHS Sophomore Class President, said that the community support has been a large reason for the success of the event.

“Something that has been really important to the success of this convention is really the community of West Monroe and Monroe. They’ve been really involved in giving donations and things like food and giving time, a lot of parents have also come to help and help set things up.”

This weekend is only the second time that the convention has ever been held in the Northeast Louisiana region and the event brought in students from over 80 schools across Louisiana. The convention was also expected to bring an estimated economic impact of over $600,000 to Ouachita Parish.