Each year, New Hampton School students elect two student leaders to serve as co-presidents and guide the student body through the school year. Following speeches and conversation with a pool of candidates in the spring, Zola Braswell ’20 and Tulio Tagliaferri ’20 were selected as the 2019-2020 co-presidents.
Meet Tulio
Tulio is a boarding student from San Anselmo, California. He came to New Hampton School eager to find a better balance, a welcoming community, and academic challenge in a less pressure-driven environment than his school at home. Tulio came from a Montessori educational background, which led to his interest in the IB program. Both programs support student-driven exploration as part of their curriculum.
In his candidacy remarks, Tulio spoke about his gratitude for our school as well as his interests in advocating for his peers, for student privileges, and partnership with the administration. Tulio shared, “Even though I can’t promise things like sweatpants day every day in class, I can promise to increase husky spirit, daily life, and privileges.”
Zola’s Inspiration
Zola Braswell learned of New Hampton School through her mom, an alumna of the Class of 1987. In her speech, Zola reflected that she feels genuinely lucky to spend all four years of high school here. She shared experiences from winning athletic competitions to acting in the school play. She, too, is eager to represent the students and lead the community that means so much to her:
“I want to work to find ways to highlight the variety of cultures on campus and improve the relationships between students at the beginning of the year in addition to international night. As a boarder, I understand the challenges of living on campus. I will spend time talking to administrators, discussing ways that students can gain more freedom to allow us to be more independent as boarders.”
Taking on the challenge
Since the election last spring, Tulio and Zola are hard at work with the Student Life Office and Head of School Joe Williams. “Zola and I have already added so many new things, but my favorite is the green and white games,” says Tulio. Throughout the year, the entire school will split into green and white teams, and the two sides will compete in fun games and activities. They are also planning other fun, engaging activities. Additionally, they are working to implement new policies and privileges for students. Our co-presidents are eager to bring their ideas, voices, and spirit to the student body and fill an essential role for their peers.
“I really want this year to be a year where people feel comfortable and are having fun. I want to have an open mind so that I’m someone students will come to and feel heard,” says Zola.
Both Zola and Tulio expressed their inspiration to give back to a community that has made a difference in their life. In Zola’s words, “Coming to New Hampton has been one of the best decisions I have made in my life, and I want to be able to give back to it and its community as much as I can.”
