School-wide president shares priorities, goals for school year

Senior Avery Refka serves as this year’s school-wide president and said she hopes to leave a positive impact on the MHS community while fulfilling her duties in this position.

Photo submitted by Avery Refka

Senior Avery Refka serves as this year’s school-wide president and said she hopes to leave a positive impact on the MHS community while fulfilling her duties in this position.

Ashley Cline, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Senior Avery Refka’s role as school-wide president has allowed her to take on a leadership position in the MHS community by planning events, leading underclassmen and ensuring Student Leadership meetings run smoothly. Moving into a new school year post-remote learning with a large portion of the student body still getting acclimated to the school, Refka reflects on her time on Student Leadership and the impact she hopes to have on the student body during her senior year. 

 

What inspired you to run for school-wide president?

My freshman year I joined Student Leadership, and it was really interesting. I remember [Student Leadership Sponsors] Ms. [Cynthia] Henrichs and Mr. [Patrick] Gaughan gave us the handouts at the end of the year, and they were like, “Oh, you can run for Student Board,” and I was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s so scary; I’ll never be able to do that,” but I was like, “You know what? You never know if you don’t try.” So, ever since freshman year, that was kind of my goal, and I thought it was really important because you know everybody needs a leader in their life. I’m a leader for everybody here, but there’s people here that lead me, too.

What is the most challenging part of your role as school-wide president?

I would say making sure everybody’s ideas are represented because not everybody has the same music taste, not everybody likes to do the same Spirit Week…. We give the students a voice, so it’s important that I listen to what they want and that we use that feedback to create school spirit and the events that we put on and just making sure that everybody feels like they have a place.

What are your top priorities for this school year?

I would say after the hectic year we had last year, just making school as enjoyable as possible by trying to get all the events that we usually have to run. Especially because it’s my senior year, I want to make it special for everybody else. Also, school spirit because I feel like having school spirit is part of what makes being a Mustang special.

What event are you most looking forward to?

Right now I would say I’m the most excited for the Homecoming game– the football game– and [the Homecoming dance] because I think everybody’s just ready to come back together and have that school spirit, and I think I’m just excited to see the freshmen start to warm up and the sophomores because we’re the leaders of the school, and I feel like this year we’re really going to bring something special to the school.

What did the process of planning Homecoming look like for you?

We had a few meetings over the summer to kind of discuss what visions we had and [working with the outside space] instead of having it inside. We’re kind of problem-solving with how can we make it the best, visually-[appealing] and fun, but still have it feel like a normal dance.

How are you fostering student involvement through your role?

A few weeks ago, I went into an AVID class, and I was telling the freshmen what Student Leadership is about because it’s my job to leave the legacy here. Once I’m gone, everybody else has to keep doing it, so I think it’s important to let them know what we’re about and just make sure that they feel like they’re represented.