Hey Crusaders! I’m back again as STUCO President, and this time its president of the entire student body. With that in mind, I’m aiming to make this the best year ever, with the help of my cabinet.

It’s been an incredible few years, and I couldn’t be more honored to be a student council officer of my class ever since freshman year. It seems like just yesterday I was running alongside Caroline Cunningham and Taytum Scarborough for freshman class officers and singing the National Anthem. However, this wasn’t the first time that I ran with these two people.

The STUCO bond between that big three goes all the way back to my 8th grade year at St. Joseph Cottleville, where the three of us served as student council officers for the student body there. Even though the biggest event that we hosted was a candy cane fundraiser for the school, it gave me a great perspective of what it’s like to be a leader, and it allowed for me to gain some experience that prepared me for St. Dominic. I owe those two a lot for sure.

After working with that same group freshman year, I decided to make a big change and move up the ranks to president of the sophomore class with my Vice President Tori Larner and my Treasurer Patrick Klassen. These have been some of my best friends that I have met at Dominic, and they are both tremendous team players… most of the time. In all honesty, they are constantly working to improve the school as well as come up with new and creative ideas to make the school a better place for students. As a bonus, they are also the team that helps put together such great campaigning videos.

Recently, these two have been a tremendous part of making key decisions for this year’s prom. Obviously there have been some major setbacks as a direct result of COVID-19, but we’ve been able to push forward and put together something that I think everyone can enjoy.

However, as we push forward into next year I’m looking to make things better than ever as we hopefully will be seeing some more relaxed COVID-19 guidelines. I think that the big theme for next year is going to be re-adjusting. Considering the fact that the pandemic might be starting to look up as vaccines roll out, and the brand new building will be coming to a grand finish just in time for the second semester, students are going to have a lot to adapt to, but also a lot to be thankful for. Hopefully we’ll be able to use this as leverage to raise school spirit levels to an all time high.

Now when I say school spirit, I mean school spirit! Some of my favorite events that I have taken a part in here during my time at St. Dominc have been the pep rallies that the student council puts on. They allow us to recognize our fellow athletes, and it’s always great to see the entire student body getting hype in our enormous gym. Unfortunately, these conditions are about the exact opposite that you would expect from a coronavirus-conscious school, which is the reason why we have not had any pep rallies this year. My hope is that we will finally be able to have a pep rally – in whatever form that may come in – at least once during the next school year, and my number one goal is to make that the best one ever.

At the end of the day, I’m looking to make St. Dominic the best possible school for the entire student body rather than one class in particular. No matter what happens with COVID-19 guidelines, we’ll try our hardest to make the school year the best year possible, and we’re always open to new ideas. I couldn’t be happier to lead the school.