Walpole High School has made many changes this school year; however, one of the most notable of these adjustments is the change in senior leadership, as Nathaniel “Red” Kelley is the newly elected senior Class President. Along with him, the senior class is now led by Vice President Charlie Auditore, Secretary Stathis Kalemkeridis, and Treasurer David Moser.

Kelley became the class president of the graduating class of 2017 after the student council election last June where he beat out two other candidates for the position.

When asked if he thought he would be a better president than previous students that held the position, Kelley said, “I don’t think better, I just think different.”

Kelley plans to make many changes with help from his fellow class officers, all of whom happen to be boys, which is unusual because in the past there have been more girls than boys on student council.

As the 2016-2017 senior class president, Kelley says that he plans to focus on improving school spirit.

“I think this school needs a strong leader to help increase school spirit. [It is] definitely something that our school has been lacking in past years,” said Kelley.

However, Kelley adds that school spirit has been improving. “At the tail end of last year, you can see a lot of improvement in school spirit, like at the baseball games when we stormed the fields or at the cookout where I grilled,” said the new senior class president.

Kelley plans to continue this idea of having cookouts before sports games into the new school year. There are going to be tailgates before certain football games this year, depending on the game and the location. Despite fear that the administration would shut the tailgates down, most of the administration has supported this idea.

“We have gotten nothing but great support from the administration, Coach Dowd, and Coach St. Martin on this process of making the brigade better and increasing school spirit,” said Kelley.

The first tailgate was held Friday, September 16, before the home football game against Needham. Senior James Randall attended the tailgate and said that the tailgate went well.

“The tailgate was very successful and had very good attendance. This will hopefully continue to be popular and become a tradition before home football games,” said Randall.

The tailgate is a new feature to Walpole High School, and just one of the many things Kelley plans to introduce to Walpole High. Furthermore, Kelley wants to represent the entire student body to the administration.

“I think it’s not so much as being class president, as just being a voice for the entire student body,” said Kelley, in reference to what his role will be this year.

Student Council President Michael Timson spoke highly of Kelley, and although Kelley’s campaign sparked some hate towards the student council last year, Timson says that Kelley has been a great class president so far.

“Nathaniel has fit in with the council well so far and has already revitalized the Brigade” said Timson.

Nathaniel Kelley already made an impact in the 2016-2017 school year through his motivation to increase school spirit, starting with the football games.

“Walpole High is the best school in the world,” says Kelley. He also said that he welcomes the responsibility of being president and is excited for the coming year. Walpole High is also excited, and one can only wonder what “Red” will do next.