The Humans of RV project is a weekly column based on Brandon Stanton’s seminal “Humans of New York” project, which seeks to “catalog the city’s inhabitants” through photography and brief interviews. RV seeks to expand on this project with our own “cataloging” of RV students and an examination into all the unique perspectives here at school. 

Note: this transcript has been edited and condensed for publication purposes.

I lost the student council class president elections my freshman, sophomore and junior year, but you just have to never give up. I guess I didn’t realize what an influence I had on my peers until the overall presidential election. I hadn’t expected that many people to vote for me since it’s the whole school voting for you.

By being an officer in multiple clubs and by engaging with the people who are also in those clubs, I was able to interact and get to know others so they could get to know me, my dedication, and my involvement in the school. I’ll admit, it is very stressful. You have a lot of expectations for yourself and from others and the responsibility to represent them, so you can’t really do a lot of the things that many high school students can “get away with.”

You’re obligated to keep up your grades and be a good student. But, it’s okay to make mistakes because at the end of the day, you’re still a regular student, just also a student leader.”

The thing that helped me the most was forming relationships with my teachers. This allowed me to have multiple options for recommendations, connections when becoming an officer in these clubs, and getting advice and opportunities regarding leadership. Honestly, use your agenda. Everyone always says ‘Nia, you actually use your agenda?’ There are 20 different things going on in my head at once and if I don’t write it down, it’ll be gone in the next two minutes. I have my agenda, I respond to all of my emails relatively quickly so that I’m not flooded with a bunch all at once, and stuff like that.

Have some self-care time for yourself. Remember that it’s okay to redistribute responsibilities because that’s a big part of staying sane as a leader. You don’t have to do everything by yourself and you probably have a lot more expectations for yourself than others have for you. Do whatever you’re comfortable with doing and break boundaries if you have the time.