Junior year has a reputation for being a student’s hardest year, so most wouldn’t try to take on too much responsibility outside of their classwork. Natalie Rocha is an exception. Between it being her junior year, running on the cross country team, and being student body president, it’s a wonder how she keeps it all together.

Natalie wanted to run for president last year because she has a passion for Mansfield High School and was tired of the same ol’ same ol’ way we were doing things. “I wanted to make a change, and by being president I knew I could get things done,” Rocha said.

She’s hoping her positive personality and energy will rub off on the other students and council members.

“If I’m motivated to make a change, hopefully they’ll be motivated to follow me in it.” Rocha said.

She believes this is the year that we will be able to change the way a lot of things work in a positive way, such as the announcements and the homecoming community pep rally.

So far her favorite thing about being president is knowing what’s going to happen and being a major role-player in the decisions for the school. She’s a girl who likes being in the know and sets high expectations for herself.

“Over the past three years I’ve been running cross country, been in student council, kept up with classwork, and participated in other extracurriculars,” Rocha said.”It has taught me to manage my time really well, so I’m not too worried about junior year.”

When she first started doing the announcements she was extremely nervous.

“Vishal [the senior class president] was having to tell me to calm down because I was freaking out,” Rocha said. “I knew I wanted the announcements to be more upbeat, because I know people usually hate them, so it was really nerve-wracking to get them perfect.”

Natalie hopes to take the council to state once again, with sweepstakes and to the big summer conference in Portland, Oregon. She knows this year the council has a lot going on, such as hosting the district student council fall conference in October.

“As of right now, I’m in love with my position, and I really like the responsibility I have,” Rocha said.

When Mrs. Golden, the student council sponsor, told her last year she would have the opportunity to run for student body president, her parents were the first people she told.

“They’ve always been really supportive of me and have always pushed me towards my goals, the church, and to pray more about big decisions” Rocha said. “Their spirit and their strong faith in the Lord and me has been what’s really gotten me through all of this.”

Even though it’s only the beginning of the school year, Natalie plans on running for student body president again for her senior year.

“What makes Natalie such a great president is that she’s so open to new ideas, to improving on projects and the things that we did last year. She has really stepped up the game and she doesn’t really want to just do the same thing that we’ve done every year,” Golden said. “She wants to improve upon things instead of just repeating things, and it’s refreshing.”

Even though it’s only the beginning of the school year, Natalie plans on running for student body president again for her senior year.