At St. Joe, student leadership is extremely important. From student council to campus ministry, St. Joe students are given many opportunities to participate in activities that make their school a more ideal environment for their peers.

On Friday, September 16, the freshman class held elections for their freshman class officers. The possible officer positions are president, vice president, commissioner of communications, and treasurer. These students are very important to ensuring that their class has a strong and successful experience.

The president is responsible for leading all class meetings, and it is her job to make sure that all class business is executed properly, whether that means speaking with Ms. Davis to get ideas approved or appointing committee chair people for major events. The vice president also has many important duties. It is her responsibility to assist the president in leading class meetings. She may even be in charge of leading them on her own when the president is absent. In addition to the president and vice president, each class has a commissioner of communications. Some of her responsibilities include sending out all class communications and keeping a record of class events. Finally, the treasurer is in charge of all financial records for the class. She prepares a budget for class events, collects and records funds, and prepares official financial request forms for Ms. Davis’s approval.

All of the officers have very important roles, but most importantly, they must report back to the class coordinator. The class coordinator for the class of 2026 is Mrs. Sarah Boul, theology teacher.. Mrs. Boul has been teaching at St. Joe for nine years, and she teaches Sacred Scripture to freshmen and Life in Christ to sophomores. 

Mrs. Boul is excited to be working with the freshmen class officers. She is looking forward to shaping them as officers and helping them in their journey to becoming good leaders for the class. She is also eager to help them organize Mission Week for the class, one of the first big tasks of the class officers. Mrs. Boul is very excited, and she hopes that the freshman class will have an amazing experience with their Mission Week activities. While the title of class officer is a very prestigious one to hold, Mrs. Boul believes that there is much more to being an officer than the title. 

“[The most important role of the class officers is] to live out our motto, ‘Not I, But We.’ That role is not an ‘I.’  It’s not about them, but it’s about the ‘We’—the class and who your class will be as the Class of 2026,” Mrs. Boul said.

Many students ran for officer positions, and elections resulted in a tie between two presidential candidates. It was decided that there would be two freshman class presidents:, Piper Mooney and Caroline Schierding. Vice president is Harper Mayers and commissioner of communications is Molly Sallaberry, and freshman class treasurer is Kate Vonderahe.

One of the class co-presidents, Piper Mooney, comes from St. Peter School in Kirkwood. She has two older brothers, one younger brother, and two dogs, Henry and Charlotte. Piper loves to watch football with her family, and she enjoys riding her bike. However, she strongly dislikes pretzels. Piper ran for class president because she knew that it was something she would enjoy doing. She loves to lead, and she also knew that she wanted the opportunity to get to know everyone in her class. 

“I was not super nervous about running because I knew that whatever the outcome of the election was, I could still be a leader and be close and friendly to everyone. No matter what, I knew that it was worth trying,” Piper said.

The commissioner of communications, Molly Sallaberry, attended St. Gabriel the Archangel before attending St. Joe. She is very close with her family, and she is the oldest of her siblings with one little brother and one little sister. She enjoys playing board games with her siblings, as well as hanging out with her friends. She loves dogs, volleyball, and the color green. She also has a passion for musical theatre, and she is currently participating in the fall musical, Legally Blonde Jr. Molly ran for class office because she thought it would be a great way to get involved with her class.

“I am most looking forward to getting to know everyone through class office! I’m excited to hopefully bring fun activities to the class for this year,” Molly said.

Kate Vonderahe, freshman class treasurer, attended grade school at Visitation Academy. She is close to her family, which includes her father, mother, stepfather, two sisters, and three stepsisters. She loves to run, and she enjoys playing soccer and listening to Kanye West. She also plans to get a pet Ostrich when she is legally old enough to. Kate said she ran for a class officer position because she is very responsible and organized.

“I am most looking forward to planning some very fun, very hype events and activities for my grade,” Kate said.

St. Joe is very fortunate to have such excellent girls organizing their freshman class, and the St. Joe community is definitely looking forward to getting to know all of the class officers as the year continues!