Deldrick Adams, 17-years-old, possesses an unassuming sort of familiarity rarely found in a teenager. He shakes a student’s hand upon greeting, smiles, and asks, “How are you?” Most remarkably to the greeted students, he seems genuinely curious about the response. However, with a new group of juniors on campus, perhaps it is time that others get curious about Adams, the Senior Class President.

Raised in Byhalia, Adams has had experience with leadership. He was elected Freshman Class President at Byhalia High School. However, he did not recognize it as a product of his outgoing nature, but rather a stroke of luck. Adams said, “I remember telling my mom that one day my luck would run out… I said, ‘I won’t be the Senior Class President.’ Fortunately, I was right. I didn’t become Senior Class President at Byhalia… I became Senior Class President at MSMS.”

Certainly any student witnessing Adams’ rise to presidency knows he won his position from anything but luck. Going beyond simple poster production and a quick speech, Deldrick campaigned hard last spring. Perhaps setting a new precedent, Adams started his campaign with a video mass emailed to the school. Speaking of the video, Adams notes, “The funny story behind my campaign was the fact that no one believed I was running until my video came out!”

Adams also made every effort to stop and talk to students between classes, telling them about his goals and how their votes could help. While Adams certainly had the most aggressive campaign, he claims to have never once felt out of sorts putting on a public persona, “Nothing made me uncomfortable! I enjoyed every moment. The two weeks of campaigning made me appreciate the ideals of MSMS even more.”

Looking at this fearless young man, always reaching for bigger and better, other students have to wonder where that drive came from. Are leaders born or made? Adams believes his drive has been passed down from his grandfather. “Because my father has not been a huge part of my life, my grandfather has played the father role. He has guided me to my successes and I truly appreciate him.” When speaking on the origins of his passion, MSMS also seems to appear in nearly all of Adams’ responses. He wants to thank MSMS for “giving me a chance to be better,” and calls his time as president, “an absolute blast!”

Once again pursuing a goal fearlessly, Adams’ was — like so many presidents before him — diligently working on securing Morgan Freeman for the class of 2016’s graduation speaker at the time of the interview. “The news on that is simply, I am praying… Morgan Freeman is a great inspiration, but if I cannot get him here, myself and the other class officers will look for inspiration.” Another goal for Adams is to truly make the word ‘family’ embody this school. He says, “My desire for the school is for us to come together as one. We continue to use the word, ‘family.’ … I just want some team players so that we can make the MSMS community a better place.”