Senior Class President Kevin Mwangi is living up to his campaign promises, helping his fellow 12th graders navigate their final year of high school with heart and humor.
Kevin speech at this year’s Convocation (Sept. 8) set the tone for his presidency, leaving everyone emotional and laughing.
A four-year senior from Wilbraham, Mass., Kevin was voted president by the Class of 2024 last spring. He is a member of Boys JV A Soccer team, a leader of the Wildest Cats, and of course, an aspiring SoundCloud rapper.
Kevin told The Willistonian he feels like his presidency has helped him “learn to connect with my classmates and you know, work with them to convey our emotions as a school and a student body.”
The role of senior Class President is important all throughout the year, but the beginning is the most nerve wracking, he said, because of the convocation speech.
Kevin spent the summer planning what to say, until one day, when “my mom was yelling at me, and I was out of ideas, and I was like ‘that could work, I could put that in my speech,’” he said.
Once his speech was written, Sept. 8 came around and Kevin was “nervous as hell.”
“I was shaking in my boots,” he said. “I was up there, and the podium was covering it, but my leg was shaking, and I was sweating.”
Despite his uneasiness, Kevin’s speech was a resounding success, and including memorable quotes such as:
“It’s natural to be upset or sad, but I think once we realize something is limited, it really forces us to appreciate what we previously took for granted.”
In his closing section, Kevin also urged his fellow seniors to “think about what voice you want this school to carry, then be that voice, because it starts with you.”
Sarah Sawyer, an English teacher and Head of the Writing Center, got to read Kevin’s speech before he spoke at Convocation.

“I was really happy when I read his speech because it showed me how seriously he takes his role and how thoughtful he is about the concept of community and building community,” she said.
Sawyer loved how Kevin’s speech “captured his humor, his kindness, and his openness to connection with other people. I loved it. Five stars,” she said.
Channing Doran, a senior from Vineland, N.J., appreciates how Kevin does a “great job connecting to the students by relating to them.”
“I feel like he is stepping out of the norm of normal presidents,” he said. “He is more energetic and more present.”
Chase Livingston, from Westerly, R.I., has been roommates with Kevin for three years; the two have been best friends since the first couple of days of freshman year.
“He was one of my first friends at school because he was just funny,” Chase said.
Chase believes Kevin has been a “very social person on campus and has made a lot of new connections,” which shows how successful he has been as senior class president.
Darlenia Kokoszka, a Spanish teacher, dorm parent, and Kevin’s advisor, is proud of Kevin’s growth throughout the four years she has known him. He has come a long way in her eyes, and the ease and confidence with which he stepped into the role of class president has been a reflection of his personality.
“He is fearless, ready to make his presence known when he enters the room,” she said. “He is thoughtful, warm and charismatic. Kevin is a conversationalist; he is opinionated but also open minded and can engage with just about anyone.”