Within every grade, it is an honor for many SHC students to serve their community through volunteering, serving on student council, or even spreading school spirit at sporting events. These acts of service are perhaps most embodied by our Student Body Officer (SBO) presidents. Following the most recent SBO election, we witnessed our current SBO president, Logan Graves, pass the torch to next year’s leader, Rachel Lewis. Here is an exclusive interview with both of our SBO leaders!
What are some of your current plans for your presidency?
Rachel Lewis: “My broad goals so far for the presidency are to elevate our school spirit, increase arts representation, initiate new service projects, open the discussion for some new senior events, and connect the Student Council more closely to the student body to ensure that opinions and suggestions are consistently considered.”
What was the hardest part of running for president?
Rachel: “The hardest part of running for president was definitely reaching the lowerclassmen. Being an upperclassman, it was hard to introduce myself and my goals to people who had a different lunch than me and didn’t know who I was. One thing that really helped me in this regard was being involved in performing arts communities at SHC, which connected me to very supportive freshmen and sophomores who helped me spread my ideas, took pictures with my ‘Vote Rachel’ sunglasses at lower lunch, and told their friends to vote for me, which was so great!”
What advice would you give to someone in the same position as you?
Rachel: “For someone running for president, I would just say to start early! Writing the speech, making posters, creating social media posts, and everything else that comes along with campaigning, is a lot easier if you get started on it as soon as you can. This will allow you to introduce yourself early and give the student body time to get to know you and begin to understand your ideas and goals!”
How will you ensure everyone’s voice will be heard?
Rachel: “To ensure everyone’s voice is heard, I will make sure that feedback forms/suggestion boxes are available to all students so that they can share their opinions with the Student Council. This could be anything, from what music should be played during dances to what sources we should provide for students’ mental health. I will also work to publicize these forms so that students know exactly where to find them and how to share their opinions. I will also try to allot specific time in Student Council meetings to discuss the suggestions of the student body, ensuring that everyone’s voices are heard and that the council is truly representative of all students. I will also work to forge stronger connections between Student Council and CCCs to make sure that these community cohorts’ ideas and goals are strongly represented.”
What is some advice you would like to pass over to Rachel?
Logan Graves: “The hardest part of [this job] is that no one is holding you accountable for your promises. If you want, you can just sit around and do nothing – plenty of presidents have done that. It’s difficult not to, especially when you have so much else going on.
So I think the best thing I would tell you to do is to set clear deadlines on your goals, and get people to hold you [accountable] – the rest of Student Council, members of the arts department, etc. You’re probably going to get super busy in the fall with college apps – I for sure did – so once you have those goals, delegate them as much as possible. Above all: don’t try and do everything yourself.”
What was the most memorable moment of your presidency?
Logan: “There are a couple [of] small interactions I’ve gotten to have, especially with underclassmen, that really made me feel warm inside – those are probably what will stick with me the most.
It’s fun to be asked for advice – and it’s even more fun to get to know younger students that I wouldn’t have gotten to know otherwise. “
What do you think you learned from your presidency, and what is the most influential thing you have done as SBO president?
Logan: “There are small things – helping fix and upgrade bathrooms, for example – that might leave a material difference, but I’m hoping that the message that I’ve been pushing is what will leave the most lasting impact.
I’ve spent a lot of words, in conversations and speeches, trying to emphasize the idea that individual people have power. It’s easy for that to get lost in high school, with all the rules to follow and rubrics to satisfy – but those are artificial, and they’ll mostly disappear when you’re done with school. Really, there aren’t any rules in life. You can just… do things.
This sounds obvious, but it’s really profound. We easily get lost in doing ‘what people do’ – letting the world dictate our path for us, just taking options that are given and not creating our own. We often just assume things are off-limits or impossible when they really, really aren’t.
You can ask for things that you want, like advice, or flexibility, or opportunities. You can just schedule meetings with administrators, request a change in the school from Student Council – or implement it yourself as a representative. Older students can seem scary until you actually ask them questions, and they’re eager to help you.”
From these inspiring interviews, it is easy to see why these esteemed members are so well-equipped to lead the SHC community. Their messages provide valuable advice and hopefully encourage many more students to run next year!
