Karis Takes The Lead as New Administration Steps In
Media taken by Alejandro Izurieta ’25
Facing the unprecedented opportunity of working with a new team of administrators, Karis B. ‘23 plans to cultivate better student-teacher relationships as she negotiates with Mr. Pennoyer, the new head of the school, and Ms. Perry, the new head of the high school.
Karis, this year’s senior leader, will be working closely with Ms. Carpenter, who has been with the high school from the start and is in her first year as assistant head of the high school. In an interview, Karis predicted that her “position is going to change from the way we’ve seen it before” under Ms. Carpenter’s leadership of Student Government, and is excited to see what new changes this year will bring.
Karis is a student ambassador as well as one of the leaders of Amazing Grace. She is a coordinator of Let’s Dish: Girls of Color. Amazing Grace, co-led with Jameira F. ‘23 and Keredin S. ‘23, is an affinity space for members of the African diaspora and Black communities.
Karis is already a role model for the students at Grace, and many faculty members seem to agree. Ms. Christina Olivares, Director of College Counseling, said that Karis has an unwavering “commitment in hearing out and engaging her peers’ ideas.”
This commitment already seems to apply to Karis’ new role. She has a long list of things to do everyday, ranging from writing the weekly newsletter, to meeting with teachers, all while trying to listen to the wide range of issues that the student body would like to see addressed.
Karis stressed the importance of “working with the new administration and new students to figure out what makes Grace Grace.” As student leader, she wants to maintain the values and integrity of Grace as it moves forward.
After last year’s leader, Lola Jakob, paved the way for great communication between students and the student government with community-wide surveys, Karis has continued to maintain weekly newsletters and opportunities for outreach. She encourages other students to maintain the value of Grace and feels strongly about doing so through participation in Student Government.
In previous years, Karis served as Student Representative for 10th and 11th grades. One initiative that Karis enacted last year was the addition of pillows to the junior commons after requests for increased comfort in workspaces. Though a small addition, the pillows went a long way for the Class of 2023.
Karis has high hopes for the coming school year. She has several ideas she wants to implement, but first on her list is to bring the school together as much as possible by finding more opportunities to have fun.
“I think there are many things at Grace that can encourage fun but on a school-wide scale,” Karis said.
One of the more popular ideas is a high school field day. After the peer leaders chaperoned a middle school field day last year, the idea grew in popularity. Karis feels like the school could benefit from some stress-relieving, grade-wide activities, and many students could not agree more, especially after the successful bonding experience on the 12th-grade trip earlier this year.
Of course, implementing enjoyable school-wide events is not the only reason Karis chose to run for student body leader.
“I just realized that I liked being able to get things done,” she told me.
Karis likes when people “want to see x, y, and z, and then to go and come up with an idea and implement it.”
One of the more serious initiatives Karis wants to help instill is the opportunity for conversation spaces. Karis wants students to benefit from discussing “active things happening in our community or perceptions of our community in the media.” She feels that it is important for students to have a safe space to discuss community-wide issues and events outside of town halls. This would provide an opportunity for students to candidly discuss crises, both local and global, in a dedicated safe space.
Karis’ dedication to listening to and learning from her peers has not gone unnoticed. When asked about his opinions on Karis becoming senior leader, Oliver B. ‘24 had a lot to say:
“I’m really impressed with Karis as a leader. The student government hasn’t even met, but she has already shown off her prowess and warmness. She is like THE model leader here, and I can’t wait to see what she does.”
For anyone who wants to run for senior leader in the future, Karis had some advice.
“Have an open mind … if you’re thinking about running for rep…[it] is just as important.”
We are excited to see what Karis’ first initiative will be, and it seems that students could not ask for a better leader.