Six juniors each year are chosen to head the Student Senate.
Responsible for promoting leadership and planning school activities, officer positions are big shoes to fill. For their senior year, juniors Jake Price, Maddie Belew, Ashton Kimbrough, Alexis Lorio, Ben Majors and Dylan Davis were chosen by a panel of judges to take the jobs.
As president of Student Senate, Price is ready to take on the challenge.
“The thing I like most about my position is the responsibility that comes with it,” Price said. “Being responsible, along with my peers, for making successful the homecoming pep rally, spirit week and senior nights is unlike anything else at Bryant. It’s just awesome to see something that student senate has done and think ‘I helped make that happen.’ That’s what I look forward to next year.”
Except the president, each officer gets a monthly committee involving spirit, faculty, community or school. Vice President Belew is excited to have a hand in next year’s plans.
“I like that I will get to have a committee and be interactive with everybody as well as getting to represent the senate as Vice President,” Belew said. “My goal for next year is for homecoming and its events to run smoothly, and to get students fired up about really putting an effort in to Student Senate.”
Student Senate requires volunteer hour as a class. For Treasurer Majors, volunteering for homecoming was the highlight of his junior year.
“My favorite memory from this year in Student Senate was waking up on the Friday before homecoming to get ready for the pep rally,” Majors said. “It was really early and we all were grumpy but some of the best memories where made that day.”
Along with traditional Student Senate trips, new opportunities, like Rachel’s Challenge, are brought to Bryant each year. Parliamentarian Dylan Davis is ready to help maintain this balance.
“I liked seeing the joy we brought to people when we went on our trips,” Davis said. “I wanted to be an officer, because I wanted to help better the club and work with the other officers to lead the senate to reach new goals. I am most excited to lead the senate and come up with new and fresh ideas.”
Secretary Kimbrough hopes that these new ideas will spark leadership in new members.
“Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to meet new people and have fun while making a difference in our community,” Kimbrough said. “Student senate was a life changing experience for me and I want the upcoming members to feel the same way.”
With all the memories made during a year of Student Senate, it is important to document the most special moments. Lorio’s job as Reporter-Historian is to make those memories last.
“I’m going to take lots of pictures throughout the year and follow ‘#stusen’ on social media to see everyone else’s pictures,” Lorio said. “At the end of the year I’ll print them all and go full-out in portraying the year’s memories in one scrapbook.”
With Student Senate being split over two periods, members grow close to the small group within their class. For Price, the bond between Senate members is something special.
“Being in a class with only five juniors and twenty-five seniors can be intimidating at first, but all of the seniors were incredibly friendly and accepting of the juniors,” Price said. “My favorite part of Student Senate would have to be the friendships I’ve made with people that I didn’t know existed before last year. I know next year will be the same way.”
