This year, the Walpole High School Student Council celebrated their annual SEMASC (Southeastern Massachusetts Annual Student Conference) Spring Conference at Walpole High School, as they welcomed over 20 student councils from the southeastern region of Massachusetts.  The gym, decked out in birthday party decorations; the students, wearing party hats.  The Student Council members promoted a birthday party theme in order to contribute to the Birthday Wishes Charity, which helps thousands of homeless children plan their own birthday party. Chaired by junior Dillon Knight and sophomore Taylor Petrucci, the conference consisted of opening and closing activities, workshops and voting for the new SEMASC Executive Board. While the conference was a success for the WHS Student Council, junior Sarah Rockwood also had an accomplishment of her own, as she was named SEMASC Secretary, becoming the first Walpole High student to serve on the SEMASC Executive Board.

Students, teachers and student councils received awards during the opening ceremony for their efforts in making their school and community a better place; however, the the main event was the reading of speeches from candidates running for the SEMASC Board. This year, Rockwood, running for Publicity Coordinator, was the only candidate from Walpole to compete for a position.  She ran against two other candidates, junior Alyssa Bender from Marshfield High School and junior Andrea Bilton from Hanover High School.

At the end of the conference, Rockwood did not win the position of Publicity Coordinator, but instead, was offered another opportunity. After the winners were announced, the SEMASC Executive Advisor approached Rockwood and offered her the position of SEMASC secretary, which Rockwood gladly accepted.

“At first, I obviously wasn’t happy with the results, but I was still grateful for the opportunity and the great learning experience. Then, after winning Secretary, I felt pretty accomplished and very excited and thankful,” said Rockwood.

In past years, senior Kody McCann ran for the positions of President and Vice President, but was unsuccessful. However, McCann’s drive laid the foundation for others in Student Council, like Rockwood, to strive for an officer position.

Rockwood said, “I wanted to run to put myself out there, have experience running a campaign and speaking in front of a few hundred people.”

She first started campaigning prior to speaking before the entire SEMASC council. When Rockwood made her decision to run, she created a Twitter account that set the base for her campaign – #ifoundmysmallvictory. The main platform of Rockwood’s campaign was to promote positivity, and on her Twitter account, Rockwood tried to highlight the importance of appreciating the little things in life.

Rockwood, now the Secretary of the 2015-2016 SEMASC Executive Board said, “There’s nothing like SEMASC and to be a part of something that’s bigger than me is a really cool thing.”