On September 8th, the school’s student government held the first of its elections. The community learned the Class of 2023’s (Erin Crosby, Lily Morgan, Helen Thompson, and Lucy Wallace), 2024’s (Alex Crews, Will Garner, Camilla Garza, and Landon Jones), 2025’s (Claire Kurtz, Dax Martin, Lux Paine, and Grace Thompson), and 2026’s (Clayton Ellis ((Class Speaker)), Isaiah Batten, David Choma, Julia Grace Linn, and Weston Smith) senators. The senators are a part of the third branch of the student government behind the class speakers, as well as the executive committee with the President and Vice President.
I had the privilege of speaking with the new Class Speaker of the freshman class, Clayton Ellis. When asked about the first changes we could start to see addressed around the campus, Speaker Ellis mentioned possible vending machines for students and also a “slight change in uniform” to make it more relaxed. While we conversed about potential improvements, we also brought up the subject of what might be expected of the student community that might be unrealistic to achieve. For instance, “major uniform changes” and “allowing students to use phones” would be too large to promise.
Like many others, Speaker Ellis is brand new to Ensworth entirely. I asked him about his time so far after his first month of the new school year. He went on telling how the students are “super passionate” about everything Ensworth, which is new and fun to him compared to previous schools. Ellis mentioned how the people here are inspiring, because they are always, “working to be better” and are always trying to improve themselves.
Nearing the end of our discussion, I asked why he was even interested in becoming the Speaker in the first place. Ellis responded by saying how he was tired at his past school when others were running for the title and not putting the effort behind it. He aspires to “make concrete changes” for the Ensworth community to last for many more classes. “At the end of the day, I just want to achieve what [the students] want to achieve.”
After the interview, I couldn’t help but feel extremely satisfied with our decision to give Clayton a leadership role. He is fit mentally for the task of speaking and representing the freshmen here. It will surely be a productive year for our student government with many fresh ideas on how to produce change and progress in the school.
If you have a question or concern, feel free to contact one of your senators or your class speaker to find out more by personally emailing them on their Ensworth student account.