Maryam Mousa: 'I need to advocate for what students need and want'

Maryam Mousa

Junior

Monterey High School

As a Monterey High School junior and class president, Maryam Mousa’s hope for her peers is that they feel supported and that they are comfortable. “I think being in leadership I have the ability to allow that,” she says. “I plan rallies to bring the community together. I hope that people find their passions in high school and pursue that, and I will do whatever I can as junior class president to help.”

Being a student at Monterey High School means having a lot of spirit, “Toreador pride,” as Maryam refers to it. And, for her, having spirit means being engaged with other students in your classes, being challenged by the material your teachers give you, and learning about many different types of fields. It’s about making new friends and delving deep into different cultures at school,” she says.

Maryam is the product of a military family, and as such has moved several times across the country. She attended schools in Kentucky, New York, and Tennessee before finding her way on the Central Coast first at San Benancio Middle School in the Washington Union School District, before landing at Monterey High School.

 

Since coming to Monterey High, she has set the bar high. She is in both the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and the Monterey Academy of Oceanographic Science (MAOS). She is also vice president of the Model United Nations, junior class president, and in leadership class. To top it off, she created a STEM club at Monterey High.

As junior class president and a member of the leadership class, she is very involved in the planning of school activities. She was instrumental in planning the first ever neon night rally on campus as part of an effort to get students engaged.

Her love of Monterey High is clear. She says the school really feels like family. “The people. The teachers. We’re so together like a community. The students are very welcoming. The teachers are very connected with the students. That’s why I love this school, honestly,” she says.

Her more recent accomplishment is serving as a student board member on the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Board of Education for the fall semester. “I basically am the voice for students not only at Monterey High, but for other schools across MPUSD,” she says. In her role, she communicates with other student board members and the Board of Education elected members to improve our schools and make things more inclusive, as she states.

“It’s important because I need to advocate for what students need and want,” says Maryam.

Outside of school, Maryam is an avid soccer player. Not only does it balance her, but it has helped her develop as a person. She also runs cross country and runs track and field. Post high school, she wants to attend college, and has her eyes set on Stanford.