![“I have never done a sport that was so demanding and yet so fun and exhilarating,” Price said. “I look [forward] to it every day and am so happy that I became so good at it." (Courtesy of Lucy Richins)](https://ballardtalisman.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/miles-wrestler-2.jpg)
On May 2, school intercoms announced the results of ASB elections and freshmen Jack Rees, Hanzo Watanabe and Thijs Buning were confirmed to be 2025-2026 sophomore ambassadors.
The previous day, students were invited to the Performing Arts Center (PAC) to witness prepared speeches from each of the candidates who presented novel ideas and motivations to the future of ASB.
“What I talked about in my speech – about special education – that’s probably my biggest goal,” Rees said. “I want to really improve their experience at Ballard and give them more opportunities.”
Rees’ major aspiration as a sophomore ambassador is encouraging each member of the school community, especially individuals who have historically been disregarded.
“We talked about it in homeroom, how we can make all individuals and communities feel welcomed,” Rees said. “I want to put more of a spotlight on underlooked communities and make them feel included in Ballard.”
For Rees, the decision to pursue a leadership position is an effort to uplift every student and to bring the current state of the school’s community to its full potential.
“I think Ballard is a great community, but like anything, there’s a lot of work to do,” Rees said. “I want to be part of that.”
The school’s sense of community can always be strengthened and making a difference takes initiative.
“What mainly motivated me is that I want to make an impact in the community,” Rees said. “I consider myself a leader in sports; out of sports, I want to carry that on and make an impact where it’s needed.”
Rees took on a leadership role this school year as a freshman ambassador and he is approaching the upcoming school year with more experience and a new perspective of ASB and what his impact could be.
“It was more of an intro to what’s to come, but I didn’t do as much as I thought I would.” Rees said. “That’s especially why I wanted to run again, get a full feel of ASB, keep going with what I wanted to do and evolve from that.”
Similarly, Watanabe was elected freshman ambassador and aims to continue contributing to ASB.
“I really liked being a freshman ambassador,” Watanabe said. “Even though it’s only been one school year, I think I learned a whole lot about leadership and advocacy.”
Working in ASB this school year has pushed Watanabe to enter the upcoming year with a drive to be engaged as a sophomore ambassador.
“[I] wanted to try and be a part of ASB again next year, which would be through sophomore ambassador,” Watanabe said. “I also wanted to get more involved, since this year I had a pretty short term.”
Rees aspires to bring new perspectives to the school and highlight ideas directly from students to bring them to life.
“I’ve got a voice that I can use for others,” Rees said. “I can take other peoples’ ideas that sometimes wouldn’t be heard, but are great ideas and values, and I can help bring those into action and make a community that feels safe for all.”
Part of being an ambassador is employing one’s voice to advocate for ideas.
“I think that currently, one of the only ways students can express their ideas to ASB is through student senate,” Watanabe said. “While I think that student senate is a great way for students to communicate and express their voices, not every person in the school is part of student senate.”
Leadership is an important component of any school community’s foundation and all three sophomore ambassadors have previous experience in student leadership.
“I was a student leader at my middle school,” Buning said. “I was the school president there.”
Buning strives to carry on his participation in school leadership from middle school to high school.
“I had a lot of fun, I felt like I was able to meet and learn about my peers a lot more,” Buning said. “Going to a way bigger school in Ballard, I wanted to be able to meet new people and be able to represent them.”
An element of the prepared speeches candidates presented was concisely conveying a sense of one’s values and goals within their brief speech.
“I just tried to be as honest as possible and just really tell people who I am, what I believe and what I want to happen.” Buning said.
Buning aims to get more students involved in ASB’s affairs and to foster an environment where making an impact is accessible.
“I feel like a lot of people don’t really understand how ASB works or what’s going on,” Buning said. “Not everybody wants to, but I feel like a lot of information is secluded or withheld from people.”
A central focus for Buning when it comes to leadership, is to lead and include the entire student body with honesty and sincerity.
“I want people to be able to know what’s happening, how it’s happening and how they can get involved,” Buning said. “I always believe in honesty, I believe in clarity and fun too.”
A vital portion of student leadership is uplifting the student body and encouraging spirit.
“I mean, everyone should have fun,” Buning said. “In high school, obviously you’re meant to learn, but I think it’s also a really good time to have fun.”
Buning aims to implement fun through school events like spirit weeks, school dances and sporting.
“I just want to plan events, get everybody involved that wants to be, and get everyone having fun,” Buning said. “And hopefully run again next year.”
