In late May of 2018, Emma Grace Newell handed off her gavel to incoming senior Jon Wilson.

Fast forward three months, Wilson has gotten his first taste as what it means to be Student Body President.

Student Body President is a rather cherished position on Student Council — especially for Jon.
“Student Council in general … I really feel connected to. Growing up and expanding my leadership I was good at being chair and executing things,” Wilson stated.

Wilson has many exciting plans for the year … including the current upcoming hype — Homecoming.

“The theme is ‘The Greatest Homecoming,’ which is loosely based off the title, ‘The Greatest Showman,’ so it is going to be kind of a carnival theme, which is a little more different and out there that what we have done in the past,” said Wilson.

According to Wilson, many students have taken kindly to the Homecoming theme, and are responding positively to social media posts about the theme.

Student Council provided a poll on Twitter that included several Homecoming theme ideas and, according to Wilson, ‘The Greatest Homecoming,’ did very well.

Other than upcoming plans, Wilson is the successor to former Student Body Presidents Jase Lucas, Hannah Pipher, and Emma Newell.

“My freshman year, I ran for student council because I was on Student Council in grade school,” said Jon. “That year really introduced me to high school student council, because it is so much different. [That year] I really fell in love with being a part of student council. Sophomore year was the year I really started to take charge and do more leadership things with Student Council, and that was with [former Student Body President] Hannah [Pipher].”

Wilson’s journey toward his seat in the presidency began by observing his role models Hannah Pipher and Emma Newell.

“Hannah was very personal — she wasn’t a dictator. She was the type of person you could have a conversation with. She was someone who was your friend in Student Council but she was also the president and had a lot of responsibility,” Wilson stated. “Emma was very much a really kind leader. She was very excited about Student Council — she wanted to be kind to others. She wanted to show compassion to others who weren’t normally praised. I saw her do a lot of positive initiatives in the school.”

Wilson was a member of the Executive Board on Student Council his junior year, and served as the Second Vice President, and he was able to observe the position of Student Body President from a closer position than most.

“I felt like the things that I had done the previous years prepared me [to serve as president],” said Wilson. “I always thought: maybe I will run for vice president, but then I [realized] that I had enough experience and that I would be able to do this.”

Arguably one of the biggest jobs as Student Body President is communicating with the Administration.

Student Council approves events such as Homecoming and SpringFling with the Administration, and the Student Body President is the link in the communication.

“[My relationship with the Administration] is pretty good. I know several members of the Board [of Education], and every time I have attended a Board meeting they have been really excited for students to be there and talk to them. They like seeing students involved. The new superintendent has just gone above and beyond, in terms of contacting  me and talking with me. He has been super excited and pumped up about everything we do,” Wilson said.

Wilson explained that sometimes it can be tricky with the Principals in terms of what they are comfortable with approving. He says that it is all a matter of communication.

Since he is a senior, Wilson does what any other senior is doing: thinking about college.

“I’m not 100% sure what I want to do for college,” Wilson said. “I’ve taken a look at what I’m good at, and what I have ben involved in, and then seeing what I can do with that,” he said.

“I’ve thought about majoring in Political Science and going into Law or government, or business,” he said.

Wilson remains very excited about the upcoming year, and he is proud to serve as the 2018-19 Student Body President.