Stanton Community: Joaquin Rafaele Cecilia Marcelino
By ELISE GIDEON | Feb. 14, 2020 | Student Life
photo by Lance Mallari
Joaquin Rafaele Cecilia Marcelino was elected as the sophomore class president for the 2019-2020 school year at Stanton College Preparatory School. This will be the first installment of the series on the class presidents here at Stanton.
DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: What inspired you to run for class president?
JOAQUIN RAFAELE CECILIA MARCELINO: Well, what inspired me is that I always wanted to go out and help anyway I can for my friends and everyone in the class and I saw how, I’d say, not very well run the administration was last year and so I wanted to help out and making sure that everyone had an equal and fair chance at having a good year.
DA: Have you enjoyed being the class president for the sophomore class?
JRCM: It’s enjoyable, it's just a bit stressful. It can get a bit challenging when trying to please each and every person, but then in the end, it just is what it is and you try to do the best job that you can and it is enjoyable. It gives you experience as to how to lead people and gives you more experience with other people and helps build more connections with others.
DA: Has it been harder than you expected coming into the position?
JRCM: A bit, because there has been some differences in opinion every once in awhile and there's just the challenge of getting through admin and with our sponsors but they’re helpful, they just need to pick up their phone.
DA: Has there been anything in particular that you and the other class of 2022 officers have partook in or completed since being elected?
JRCM: Just the website, and the more outreach on social media in which we try to focus on trying to reach a wider audience and not just focus on one instagram platform and trying to have everyone voice their opinions and have as much of the class vote and share their thoughts with us so we can represent them more accurately.
DA: Are there any plans for any future projects you all want to do?
JRCM: We want to do more service projects because it's so pivotal for our time here at Stanton and for next year, especially for IB people who need 100 hours by the end of the year. We want to plan more service projects and things that can benefit the community in general in Jacksonville and also do some art projects.
DA: What do you think the general opinion or view of the sophomore class is from the eyes of the other classes?
JRCM: Being as I’m friends with a few other people from the other classes, the opinion is mixed. Mixed as in some people believe our class is well energized and filled with a lot of good people but there's also the downsides of every class in which we can get too hyper.
DA: Is there anyway you plan to further improve the image of the class as a whole?
JRCM: I just want to show to other people that we can be unified and that we can have a more solidified ground and community within our class and so that we can have a tighter and closer knit and connection between each other and to show that we can get together and do great things and make our mark here at Stanton.
DA: What do you wish to get out of your position?
JRCM: I wish that people would have a good year and that they’d enjoy their time here because that's all an officer can ask for.
DA: Do you plan on rerunning for class president in the coming year?
JRCM: It’s a possibility, probably might move onto SGA because I have plans that encompass the whole school.
photo by Julia Adamczyck