When I started at Belen Jesuit in sixth grade, I was elected President of my class and proceeded to serve on student council six out of the seven years. I hoped to be Student Council President one day. Due to COVID-19, I opted for virtual learning most of my junior year in order to protect my grandmother who was in my home recovering from a major stroke she had in March 2019. After our whole family got vaccinated in the spring of 2021, I was able to return to school. By then, elections were about to kick off and I was feeling like the underdog. I figured I had been "out of sight, out of mind” since I had been doing virtual learning but decided I would probably kick myself later if I didn’t at least try. I based my campaign on rebuilding UNITY among the students after having such an isolating year and making up for all the lost experiences we didn't get to experience because of COVID. It was an intense race but in the end, I am proud to say I won with a 54% margin against three other candidates.

Fast forward to today and you'll see our Student Council wrapping up an extraordinary Homecoming week that will go down in history with the first ever "Wolverine Run", a rally race across the school with 19 activities ranging from chess matches to a drone obstacle course. The entire 1470-person student body had been split into two teams and created a spirit of camaraderie with seniors cheering on sixth graders like their lives depended on it. By the end of the week, new friendships had blossomed across the school and there was a general air of brotherhood that was contagious. Even the President of our school announced a day off "to commend the work of the Student Council... for such a great Homecoming Week".