Student Voice – Dawit Ewnetu

I graduated from Rainier Prep in 2018 after attending Rainier Prep for its first three years. I now attend Phillips Exeter in New Hampshire. Rainier Prep has a very friendly environment where student voices are heard. One way of this happening is through Student Parliament. Though Student Parliament, students are able to work with teachers to make sure their voices and ideas are heard when it comes to all-school activities or working with teachers to create the very first graduation of Rainier Prep.

During my time at Rainier Prep, I was on Student Parliament, where I served as Secretary. One of the projects that I worked on during Student Parliament was setting up Spirit Week. With the help of others on Student Parliament, we brainstormed ideas on ways we can show unity and team spirit. After we came up with a few good ideas, we would run them by our School Leader for approval.

Student Parliament helped me get where I am today by building my communication and teamwork skills. Everything in Student Parliament required teamwork. If it was working on a project or talking to the other heads of the Parliament, solid communication is needed. Now that I am in high school and everything is very high-paced, I am able to slow down and ask for help from my teachers or peers.

At Rainier Prep, our future is talked a lot about, especially about what it means to be college -eady.  During my 7th and 8th-grade year, high school was the main thing on our mind. Led by an amazing Dean of College Success, Mrs. Moe, we were informed about all of the options we have for high school.  Typically, the high school process would a very long and stressful process, but with the help of Rainier Prep, they took a little bit of the load off. One example of this is the high school workshop. This was where many teachers came in on a Saturday morning to help students write their high school essay and give them feedback. While students were getting help with their high school essays, parents were getting help filling out financial aid for those who were applying for a private school. Throughout all three years, Rainier Prep made it very clear to us that they were always on our side and would always be rooting for us.