Events, COVID-19 rules and speeches are all things that Vineel Vanga, senior class president, has to treat on a daily basis. From prom to the speeches that he’s given at various events, President Vanga has done it all to make sure that his class has the most “real” year possible. However, his plan wasn’t always to be class president.

Vanga started out his years at Madison Central, a school in Jackson near the Ross R. Barnett Reservoir. There, Vanga could be described as the kind guy; however, he didn’t like this title since it never helped him be a leader of anything like he is at MSMS.

“[At Madison Central] there were a lot of fake people,” Vanga said. “There’s like, already a predetermined hierarchy and social power there that I didn’t really vibe with. If I ran there, I would lose popularity-wise which would cause me to lose a lot of opportunities there.”

So, as a result, he decided to apply to MSMS; however, it wasn’t for the reason that most people apply. Though most apply for the better opportunities that MSMS holds, Vineel actually applied because it would’ve made good practice for the college applications that he would have in the next couple of years.

“I only applied because my mom made me, for good interview practice and polishing of some things,” Vanga said. “I first thought that Madison Central was superior since MSMS didn’t rank based on valedictorian. When I got accepted, I wanted to burn the papers right then and there, but [my mom] told me to weigh my options, so I began to.”

Though many factors went into making a decision to switch schools, one major decision-changer was the decisions that MSMS has made this and last year

“This was when COVID-19 hit,” Vanga said, “and I knew that MSMS’s plan for COVID-19 was substantially better than Madison Central’s COVID-19 plan and that was a big factor for me and my family.”

As time went on, he became more interested in the many opportunities that MSMS gave and he finally decided that he would be attending MSMS in the fall.

Though this was a new start for everyone, it was especially a new start for Vanga since he had new opportunities to become leaders of clubs and events unlike those at his old school; however, MSMS didn’t have the best start for him.

“Originally, I had no intention for running as president at all,” Vanga said. “I had no social media back then so I had no presence in my class. Before class president, I ran for the Senate to see how much I could sell myself to people I didn’t know. The competition was me, Sam Sun and Vineeth [Vanga]. Results came out two days later, and I lost. It was a big slap in the face for me.”

This did not stop him from becoming the best person he could be for the senior class, however.

“The same day I found out results, Zaria [Cooper] called me, and she knew I had lost. She goes ‘there are class officer positions,’” Vanga said. “She then says, ‘Try harder and get on Discord and campaign as much as you can’ and it was then I began to realize that people knew who Sam was and they knew who Vineeth was, but no one knew who I was.”

From then on out, Vanga began to campaign as hard as he could to make sure that he would be the next class president. He began to make social media accounts, posters, raps and anything else that he could to become the next class president.

On Nov. 11, 2020, former Elections Commissioner Kate McElhinney revealed that Vanga had won junior class president, which meant that he would be in charge of planning many events, especially prom. Though this was a cause for celebration for him, Vanga began to work immediately to make the his class’s junior year at MSMS the best year possible. As he encountered and adeptly handled many events and obstacles throughout the year, he became such a huge success at MSMS that he was elected to be class president again this year. He is now ready for the new junior class officers to come in so he is able to work with them.

“For anyone running for junior class president,” Vanga said, “To anyone running for clout, drop out immediately. If you are running to be popular, drop out immediately. Brace the race because the key to class president is being humble about your roots and learning from your mistakes as you go through the role.”