At UPrep, we see, support, and strengthen the leadership potential in each student. Our Pumas are offered a range of opportunities to find their voice, their passions, and their purpose. Middle School student leadership is about exploration. Whether it’s in the classroom, on the athletic field, on the stage, or in the Makerspace, our Middle School Pumas are asked to explore everything in order to learn one thing: they can achieve anything. In the Upper School, student leadership takes many forms based on student interest. Leadership is not about a title. Instead, our faculty encourage each student to find a way to use their voice to guide their peers. In the summer 2024 issue of UPrep Magazine, we invited six students to share their leadership journey.

Ethan F., 8th Grade
Leader of Scratch Club

Middle School Scratch Club is centered around Scratch, which is a block-based programming language. There’s definitely a very large range of things that you can do in Scratch, and it’s not just programming. There are other aspects like art; it has simple but powerful art creator software. It’s easy to program because it’s not a text-based language. Anything that you make is just dragging blocks around and snapping them together. It makes the program fast and easy.

I remember the first meeting of the club in 6th grade. We thought like five or six people would show up. Twelve people showed up! We didn’t even have enough space for everyone!

I like to use Scratch and other programming languages for making games. For me, a big part of making games is having a community to help you and to rely on when you’re working on all this stuff. If you have a community and someone asks a question, then there’s like 30 people that can answer it or, in a larger community, like 1,000 people! So, there’s never a question that goes unanswered.

Nava R., 11th Grade
Board exec on Mental Health Advisory Board 

The Mental Health Advisory Board works with the counselors to facilitate activities and support for UPrep students throughout the year. We lead suicide prevention presentations in the spring for every grade. This spring, we also planned a program for the seniors about how to make the transition from UPrep to college and how to find mental health support on campus. Before exams, we create the “Take What You Need” space on the whiteboard in the Lower Commons that has lots Post-it notes of encouragement, optimism, cheer, inspiration, and comfort. Students can take the note, or notes, that speak to them.

This is my second year as a board exec, and I have learned that the things that we do, no matter how small, help students. For example, yesterday we made little snack packs and stapled uplifting notes to them. We will give them out during finals. And that sort of thing seems like not a big deal. But it really is sweet and supportive. I found that no matter how small it seems, actions can have a positive impact on people. The small stuff matters and it adds up. This understanding of leadership has helped me take pride in what the Mental Health Advisory Board does. It has given me a lot of confidence in how I can help others.

Auggie R., 10th Grade
Student Organized Consent Conference in Seattle volunteer

When I attended the Georgetown Day School (GDS) Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent in Washington, D.C., and heard keynote speaker Katie Koestner tell her story, it was the first time I ever heard a sexual assault victim share their story in detail. It was extremely moving, and it made me empathetic toward her and anyone who has gone through something like that.

After attending the summit, I started attending the UPrep Student Organized Consent Conference in Seattle (SOCCS) planning meetings. In February, we hosted SOCCS, a youth-led conference for students, educators, and parents/guardians that featured a survivors’ panel, affinity spaces, workshops about building cultures of consent, and a keynote address from New York Times– bestselling author Chanel Miller. I volunteered on the day of the event, and we hosted more than 200 people on campus. It was gratifying to be involved and feel like I was making a difference. It was also nice to have my community around me and see consent conversations happening at UPrep. I hope the participants had a moving experience like my experience at the GDS Summit.

Grace J., 7th Grade
Serving on Middle School Associated Student Body (ASB)

I’ve been involved with ASB student government all my Middle School career. ASB is a platform for students to be able to use their voice to connect and lift others. It empowers students to realize that we can make change. This is a school built for students, and together we can create that change.

At the start of 6th grade, I didn’t fully understand the importance of this position. I thought frequently about how I could I grow from this leadership opportunity. How could I establish myself as a member of this community? This year, I realized the profound impact ASB members can have in uniting our school. We created surveys to gather feedback on issues, like dance themes, so that we could take students’ opinions into account instead of the decision just being made by 12 people.

My vision as president-elect is that we create a community of respect and kindness where students always feel heard in expressing their thoughts and always know that they are a priority to us. I noticed this year that there was a minority of people who expressed their opinions. And I want people to know that they have the power, and we want to hear their ideas. Their ideas are so valuable to us. And even if it’s completely impossible, we still want to hear it. We want them to be comfortable, comfortable to step forward into the light, just like us, and have a chance to make their ideas happen. At the end of the day, for me, it’s all about strengthening our Puma community, empowering others, and creating a memorable Middle School experience that will last a lifetime.

Evan H., 12th Grade
Leader of Investing Club

Last year, we started hosting regular monthly Investing Club meetings, inviting guest speakers, and using the investing simulator on Investopedia, which is a website that hosts articles and tools to help people learn about investing and finances. We invited Heidi Richardson, UPrep’s former investment manager, to speak to the club, and her presentation really stuck with the club members.

The idea for the Tech and Business Conference was years in the making. Through my LaunchPad experience, I knew that we had a strong network of alumni in finance who were willing to connect with us as current students. The conference took place on a Friday night in March in the ULab. Nearly 20 students joined us to hear from Henry Ehrenberg ’11, who is the co-founder of Snorkel AI, and current UPrep parent Andrew Selby, who works in finance. It was so cool to hear from people working in the tech and finance industries whom we could connect with and ask questions of.

My goal for the conference was for students to hear from UPrep alumni who are successful in their careers. UPrep has this amazing network of alumni that I don’t think many of our students know about. Every alum I contacted about this conference and my LaunchPad project responded to me. Even if they couldn’t work with me, they took the time to respond. These are people who really value their UPrep experience and want to get involved.

Anousha M., 10th Grade
Co-planner of Model United Nations (MUN) Conference

MUN is a simulation of the United Nations where high school and university students represent a country, research issues, debate, collaborate, and create solutions. In the Seattle area, our conferences are held by the Pacific Northwest Model United Nations (MUN) organization. I attended my first conference two years ago.

This spring, 60 Middle and Upper School students attended UPrep’s first annual MUN Conference. The United Nations provides a wide array of topics to consider, and we chose the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We discussed issues related to refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. Students talked about topics like the distribution of basic resources, the economic impacts of refugees on their countries, and the causes of migration. We were so impressed with everyone’s work! Many people came prepared with research and enjoyed making deals with other countries. In the Middle School and Upper School committees combined, students wrote and presented seven different resolution papers.

At my first conference, I had this feeling like this was the right activity for me. I’m so passionate about debating, collaborating, and making solutions. I think that MUN inspires the next generation of change makers in the world—the next generation of leaders. I wanted to share this feeling with people in my UPrep community.

Read more of the summer 2024 UPrep Magazine here.