After running with the campaign slogan “peace, love, stuco,” junior Lindsey Sullivan was voted SEMASC President for the 2017-2018 school year. For the remainder of this year, she will serve as President-Elect where she will shadow current president, Kory Turner, and in the spring, she will officially take over as president.
Last June, at the National Association of Student Council Conference in Oregon Sullivan found a new meaning in Student Council. “I realized that Student Council was about meeting people, inspiring people, and making people happy,” said Sullivan. This conference ultimately encouraged Sullivan to get more involved with Student Council.
Aiming to become more involved, Sullivan decided to run for Southeastern Massachusetts Association of Student Councils (SEMASC) President. “Ever since going to Nationals, I knew that I wanted to take on a bigger role in Student Council,” said Sullivan. “I am really excited to be the next SEMASC President. I cannot wait to see what these next two years bring.”
As SEMASC president, Sullivan will preside at all meetings, help with the general management of the council, direct committees and host three conferences which will focus on bringing the councils of other schools together so they can share ideas.
Throughout her campaign, Sullivan used a “hippie” theme on her twitter account to highlight her true identity to the members of SEMASC; however, with regards to her speech, Sullivan stayed away from themes, as she wanted to connect with the entire SEMASC community as a whole.
“I did not want to come off too canned. I tried to connect my speech back to the message that I was really trying to get across—identity, finding your place, leaving your mark and how these things relate to each other and to me as a person,” said Sullivan.
Throughout her presidency, Sullivan will aim to create a committee of presidents from SEMASC schools to help mentor presidents from new schools joining the SEMASC community.
“After speaking with Ms. McMenimen, our Student Council advisor, I learned that when Walpole first joined SEMASC, we did not know much about what it really was, so I think that offering new schools some assistance and explaining different leadership opportunities in SEMASC could be really helpful,” said Sullivan.
Although Sullivan will be serving on the SEMASC board, she will continue to serve on the Executive Board on the Walpole High School Student Council as a SEMASC Representative.
Student Council advisor Kerry McMenimen expressed her thoughts on Sullivan’s win.
“It was really exciting for Lindsey to win,” said McMenimen. “Personally, I think her win brought our council together a lot more and showed younger leaders how make a difference beyond the high school.”
“Lindsey has devoted countless hours to our Student Council to get to where she is now, and she has an energy about her that inspires passion in others. I am confident she will use her strong leadership abilities and genuine nature to do great things for SEMASC,” said Walpole Student Council President Michael Timson.
Several Walpole members ran for regional positions before. In 2013, Kody McCann ran for both SEMASC president and regional vice president. In 2015-2016, Stina Cofsky served as SEMASC secretary and Sarah Rockwood served as the publicity coordinator.
