With the recent election coming to a close on May 6, rising senior Jackson Ross won the presidential campaign with his vice president being Hayden Walsh. The election was for student president of DeMatha and it was a close race all the way through. Jackson was running against Jalen Neptune and his vice president, Nicholas DeLeon. Jackson was a class representative this year for the junior class and has a great deal of experience and knowledge and will now lead the school next year.
In an interview with both winners, Jackson and Hayden talked about their future plans for DeMatha, including ideas and thoughts for upcoming projects.
Entering the election, Jackson Ross said his plan for winning was to “take it day by day…, spread the message that we are here for the school not ourselves.” He says their message isn’t going to change just because they won, that they are going to be consistent with their word and they are here to serve the DeMatha brotherhood. One of the first things on their list is to plan a kick off event for the beginning of the school year to get people back in the spirit and not have things be too stale to start off the year. They want to be proactive about this event, with the lack of meetings over the summer they want to have something ready that they can do to start off the year.
Of the obstacles Jackson’s campaign had to overcome, perhaps the biggest was their competition. Jackson had some great words to say about Jalen and Nico, saying they all pushed each other to be better and make more connections with students and try to get to talk to the people more. Jackson and Hayden have nothing but respect for their competitors and are glad they were able to run against each other.
Another point of emphasis for Jackson and Hayden is a plan to have students’ voices heard by “reaching out often and as early as possible.” They want more “student input,” because they said “it will help us a lot more if we can communicate more to the students so their ideas can come to life.” They are still figuring out the best way for them and the students to make that bridge to communicate efficiently, but once that happens they will definitely be ready to have those conversations.
One of the things they are focused on is time management. They commented on how during this year, certain things couldn’t happen because it was such a busy school year, so this year’s student government didn’t have the time to do things effectively and the events did not proceed. One plan they’re considering to combat this would be to make online polls so they know specifically what people want, which is way faster than waiting for people to come up with ideas and give them to the government. They said that “this idea will connect the most amount of people everyday,” which is their goal and what they are striving for.
Again, one of their bigger issues of time management will be handled the most by vice president Hayden Walsh. One of his main responsibilities is to “make sure we are following the schedule, make sure things are flowing okay.” Along with Jackson, he is one of the main idea contributors, coming up with events that could potentially happen next year. Examples he gave were fundraisers and different service hour opportunities that might not usually be provided to students, just something new that can switch up the usual occurrences.
Hayden is ready to lead with Jackson and also help out if something needs to get done. Jackson said his role is to lead the school and oversee everything and input his ideas so everything can be ready to give to the people in an appropriate fashion. He’ll also organize meetings and events to increase school spirit. Their lasting message to the students is that they should remember they are for the people and ready to serve the DeMatha community.
