Coming of Age movies often emphasize the highlights of senior year and for senior Grier Burke joining student council meant making her senior year as memorable as those portrayed in the movies.
“I’m a very nostalgic person and I feel like senior year is something we see in movies and we see highlighted throughout,” Burke said. “You know people talking about it in life, like, Oh, my senior year I did this. And to think that I’d have a lot of, I wouldn’t say power, because this isn’t why I do it, because it’s not a dictatorship or anything, but just having somewhat of control over a really positive thing that could occur, and just being able to have fun myself, but also have fun with other people.”
The class of 2025 student council board not only welcomed Burke but four additional members, including Vice President Kaiyah Rodkey, Treasurer Leah McDermott, Senator Sonali Jain and Senator Viktoria Partyka, leaving only two previous members, Secretary Suri Peng and Senator Anshi Dosee.
The arrival of new members caused some unease for an older member, Peng.
“At first I was a bit worried that adjusting would be difficult due to the amount of new members,” Peng said. “However, now I love how so many fresh ideas have been brought to the table as we have so many exciting things in store for senior year.”
Peng said the ambition displayed by the new board helped ease her nerves.
“From just the first meeting I noticed how quickly we jumped different issues, new plans, etc,” Peng said. “I think that part of the reason why I’m not nervous about the board is because from what I’ve seen I’m working with ambitious and creative people, which is definitely important in STUCO because a lot of times we have to compromise around different rules to get a solution we want especially when planning events or catering to the wants of the student body.”
As a part of her second and final year in student council, Peng said she hopes to leave behind new traditions for future boards to follow as the lack of events for the senior class led her to join student council in the first place.
Similar to Peng, Rodkey said she ran for vice president in order to make her peers happy for their last year of highschool.
“I ran for that position because I want to see my peers as happy as possible for their last year of high school,” Rodkey said. “I listen to our student body and ensure their voices are heard, to give them the best senior year.”
Rodkey also mentioned her desire to leave a lasting impression on not only the students but at Lane overall.
“We want Class of 2025 to be remembered as the class who made a change,” Rodkey said. “We want to add traditions to the senior classes that can be hopefully passed down to future generations.”
