Aliyah Rhodes (12) has served as the Senior Class President for the Class of 2020. She spent most of her time campaigning with fruit snacks and funny posters. She told us about her feelings when she finally won the title, “I was really ecstatic when I found out I won Senior Class President and I was really excited for all the things that would come with winning too!”  Rhodes decided to participate in student government her junior year, where she became the Junior Class Historian. Aliyah and a few of her friends decided to run together for their senior year after enjoying it the year prior, and Rhodes said, “It was really fun! The environment was really fun and positive during the campaigning and I knew I wanted to do it my senior year as well! I never would have known how much student government does if I wouldn’t have joined it!” 

Aliyah is a joyful and sweet person who loves to be a part of a community. Student government allowed her to do just that. She found it easy to make new friends and get involved in Skyline’s environment to make this year fun. During her time as a student government officer she did a lot of fundraising and planning, “Throughout the year we fundraise money. We fundraised about $8000 for the Senior Party that would’ve happened if coronavirus hadn’t shut everything down. And another thing we did was plan a dance after a basketball game earlier this year. I’m also giving a speech at graduation, which will be fun.” She told us that a lot of her job also includes planning even further in the future than this school year, she’s in charge of the 2020 Class Reunion. When asked what her favorite thing student government did this year she explained, “ My favorite thing we did this year is probably putting on Homecoming, like planning the spirit days, the dance, and even the game. It all just came out really fun.”

Rhodes is a very active and energetic person. She loves laughing and almost always is. Rhodes likes to look on the positive side of things and to always keep an open mind. She loves to dive into things head first and give it her all and she is always down to try new things. She loves playing sports like basketball, softball, volleyball and more. Rhodes loves all things crafty and making cute things for her friends. She also loves reading and spending her days planning on finishing a book that may never actually be read. “I also am an extreme lover of animals and have owned tons! My most favorite one being a hedgehog, Dexter, so far. I’m sure there are  many more to come!”

After graduation, Aliyah is planning to volunteer for the International Language Program (IOP). Aliyah explained how IOP works: “You go to another country and teach some other kids English. I’ll be assigned a country for the fall soon, but I put a preference on Thailand. The kids I want to teach are going to be paying for the program, mainly because their parents want them to learn English to become bilingual. Those types of situations are more common in developed countries.” She said that the program will last about four months, and she’ll be gone for basically a full semester. During her time where she’s teaching she’ll be allowed to take trips on the weekends and get a couple weeks off just to travel in the area. She told us that, for her, the program is mostly about getting teaching experience and getting to go to a foreign country. In IOP there’s also availability for a Head Teacher position, and Aliyah hopes to get paid for the work she’ll be volunteering to do in the future.

Aliyah is a kind and genuine person that has done a lot of great work in her time at Skyline. Her goals are centered around helping others and making the world a better place, and she’s already on her way to doing so.