MY PERSPECTIVE
CARLOS BALDOR ’21
served as Student
Council president
for the 2020-21
JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • SPRING 2021 43
Going into this year I didn’t know
what to expect.
With the possibility of the entire
school year being virtual, I was nervous.
This was my senior year, and I had been
elected Student Council president. It
should be a special year, a memorable
year, a year of growth and brotherhood.
was wreaking havoc on seemingly
everything, and school was certainly no
exception.
Late in the summer came the
in-person learning. My hopes for senior
year were rising.
Then the school year started, and it
was … odd. Seeing everyone walking
around campus with their masks on
and keeping their distance was an
odd sight, to say the least. The whole
atmosphere of the school was off, I felt.
Sure, everyone was excited to be back,
but at the same time I could sense fear
– fear that the opportunity to remain
on campus wouldn’t last long. We had
doing virtual learning. We didn’t want to
go back to that.
I felt like I needed to do something. But
what was frustrating was not knowing
what that something was. I remember
talking to my father one day about the
frustration I was feeling, and he said
something that really connected to all
the problems I was having. My father
told me, “if you are able to have a smile
on your face every day, and treat those
around you with the same energy as you
put forth toward the school, you can lift
up the school as a whole.”
He was right! In order to give this
school hope, I needed to have hope
myself, and people needed to see it and
sense it in me, regardless of whether
I was wearing a mask, and no matter
what I was going through, whether it
be the loss of my grandfather in August
or the heart attack my cousin suffered
in December. In my position of high
visibility – four days a week I stood
before the student body and read
announcements – I needed to be a light.
I needed to give hope to the others who
worrying about this pandemic.
And that’s what I tried to do. Even
when we had to cancel or postpone or
I remained hopeful and optimistic,
looking toward new ideas and revised
events as we tried to adapt to the new
society we were in. However, as much
as I did my best to help the school
remain optimistic, I wasn’t doing it
alone. Our Director of Student Activities,
Mr. Carmelo LoSauro ’10, and our
Student Council moderator, Mr. Corey
Perich, were always on top of things,
propelling us forward. And my fellow
Student Council representatives, George
, Max Gonzalez ’21, and Jason
Kwo ’21, have helped us do the things
we needed to do in order to make this
school year successful.
Without them, I could have been like
a chicken with its head cut off. Instead,
it was our teamwork that gave us
experiences this year such as Blue Tide,
the Super Bowl challenge (go Bucs!) with
Rockhurst High in Kansas City, State
Championship recognitions, and much
more.
This school year, and the opportunity
I was given, have provided me with a
perspective to never take anything for
granted. I am truly grateful for having
had the chance to lead Jesuit as Student
Council president. Though this year was
something no one could have anticipated,
we made it work as best we possibly
could. It was a great year.
school year.