Students Elect First Junior Mayor

Tanisa Rahman is the first ever junior elected Mayor of Midwood. Photo credit: Rreze Kadrijaj

By RREZE KADRIJAJ

M.O.M. (Mayor Of Midwood) is the witty acronym new Comptroller Taskin Khan ’20 created for Midwood’s first ever Junior Mayor, Tanisa Rahman ’20.

As mayor, Rahman is responsible for organizing the club fair and spirit days, doing the morning announcements including the pledge of allegiance, and planning monthly meetings with the rest of the student government staff, as well as with Principal Michael McDonnell and A.P. of Organization Alan Stack.

Rahman wants more students to be comfortable in school. 

“When I came to high school, I said ‘hi’ to almost every single person sitting next to me,” said Rahman ’20.

Most importantly, she wants students to think differently about Midwood and to care about it as much as she does. This influenced Rahman to create colorful maps for incoming freshman and new Midwood apparel, which is available in the school store. 

Nothing overwhelms the dedicated new mayor. She loves to work because it keeps her busy and occupied. 

Rahman said, “Ever since I’ve become mayor, every day is something, and I really like that momentum.”

Rahman certainly started a memorable year for herself and her fellow students. At the beginning of her term, “immediately I got started on Junior Prom,” she said.

During the summer Rahman called around 30 venues to get a place for the juniors. Not only did she call these venues, but she also visited a lot of them until she finally choose Dyker Beach Golf Course. The golf course stood out to her the most because while other venues only allowed access to the hall, the course will allow students access to the patio and ballroom. 

There are only ten students involved in student government, compared to a student body of over 4,000. The vast number of students fostered the idea of two representatives from each official class. The purpose of the representatives is to keep the students informed of special dates and other announcements in an organized fashion. 

“We have so many students,” said Rahman. “We should be able to see who they are and get more people involved.”

Rahman is able to connect with these representatives through an app called GroupMe.The app delivers messages straight to the iMessage inbox rather than creating separate chats. This allows the students to voice their concerns and opinions, and Rahman can also express her own. 

While carrying a massive workload with student government and advanced placement classes, Rahman is still able to make time for herself. In her free time, she likes to read and work on her digital art. She hopes to showcase her designs on posters around Midwood. 

Although Rahman remains modest about herself, current Junior President Jonathan Li believes she is the best person for the job. Li thinks her strong work ethic and charisma bring the staff closer together and create order. 

 Rahman hopes to continue student government next year. Although being mayor is a one-year term, she jokingly said Midwood has to “update the constitution” because there has never be a case in which there was a possibility of the mayor being a junior. 

In the future, Rahman would like to work as a part of a team for the United Nations or the Environmental Protection Agency. She wants to be a part of “something bigger.”

Rahman wants to remind students of a short message: “Midwood, stay positive and make the best of this year.”