By Harrison Simeon ’22

To start the school year, I figured many students would want to know what responsibility comes with the prestigious role of the student body president, especially during a school year so out of the ordinary. So, I sought out to interview Tripp Haddad ’21, the honorable senior elected to that very role. After a brief discussion about his day over the chatter of after-school dismissal, which he described as “pretty stressful, [with] a bunch of quizzes,” I knew to start my interview. 

I decided to start with more casual questions about his individual student status. As well as obviously being the student body president and head of the student council, Tripp is also on the varsity baseball team.

His favorite teacher is Coach Storm and favorite subject is World History, which he describes as “pretty interesting.” He hopes to attend either Notre Dame or Wake Forest University next fall on a business major. He loves the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans. 

Next, I asked some more substantial questions, consisting mostly of his responsibilities as president and various experiences as a senior.

Q: What were the student council’s plans for such an unconventional year?

A: “At least in the beginning, the executive board knew most events were going to be socially distant. Therefore, we had to do a lot of videos, like the videos posted on Canvas or the water balloon idea during welcome week. We were just trying to come up with stuff to remain socially distant.”

Q: What is the best part about leading the school and being the student body president?

A: “I get to interact with people I don’t usually get to interact with; being president, I got to meet a lot of seniors and underclassmen from all areas of interest.”

Q: What is something interesting that the president does behind the scenes that the average student may not know about?

A: “I’ve had to host a few Zoom meetings for student council, which I think is interesting. I had to come to school on a lot of my off days to paint banners or film videos. It may not be something very appealing but is part of the job.”

Q: What would you want to see, experience-wise, by the end of the year at Jesuit?

A: “I want to make people enjoy coming here more and have a lot of school pride and spirit. I want to see that, by around the second semester, people begin to take pride in being a Blue Jay.”

Q: If you were to give one piece of advice to an eight grader, right now, what would it be?

A: “Get involved. Make a lot of friends and branch out; it will make your experience that much better. The second part of advice I would give is don’t worry about grades so much, focus on the experiences rather than on the numbers. I think it’ll pay off; you will appreciate that a lot more in the long run.”

I thanked Tripp for his time and we both went on our ways, ending our respective school days and looking forward to an unusual year filled with possibility. Just in that brief interview, Tripp showed the leadership qualities that prove him to be a caring and hard-working student body president, a man for others, and a great Blue Jay of the Month.