St. Joseph student body president helps school thrive during pandemic

IC Design / Laura Vallejo

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OGDEN — Like many of her counterparts across the country, St. Joseph Catholic High School Student Body President Jaylee Vasquez has had a year like no other. Her entire year in office has taken place during a pandemic, but she has more than risen to the challenge, Principal Clay Jones said.

“Jaylee and the student body officers led the school in a great way,” he said. “They took advantage of every opportunity to do things to make school more normal. When you look at her leadership and the situation they were given this year, they far exceeded a lot of the leaders we’ve had in the past just because they had to deal with an extra component with COVID-19 that no one else had to deal with.”

“They had to do things on the fly sometimes, they had to adjust those activities that we took for granted before,” he said. “I really was impressed with how they came up with some different ideas on things to do so that the whole school was able to benefit from having some activities to do that normally would be easy, but this year were much more difficult.”

Those activities included socially distanced movie nights on the soccer field and a prom without its traditional dinner. In addition, service opportunities were created that included blood drives, providing gift baskets for children with disabilities and sending letters to residents of nursing homes.

“I appreciate the time I was give as a student body president,” Jaylee said. “It just showed that even in this time I am still able to accomplish things that I wouldn’t have accomplished a year ago. By working hard and collaborating with the other student body officers, we were able to give the student body a great year this year.”

Jaylee plans to study biology at Southern Utah University this fall on a full-ride Governor’s Honor Academy scholarship. In the future, she hopes to attend the University of Utah Medical School and study forensic science. Jaylee has always loved true crime shows, which left her with a desire to become a coroner, to speak for those who cannot.

“I want to be able to represent them and to just be the voice for those who don’t have one and give them justice,” she said.

The St. Joseph “lifer,” who has attended St. Joseph Catholic Elementary and St. Joseph Catholic High School since kindergarten, has been selected to be the salutatorian of her class.

“I am very grateful that I was able to attend St. Joe’s for so long,” she said. “It really goes to show what my parents preached all along: that hard work and determination really goes far.”

Jaylee played varsity soccer all four years of her high school career, and was named Defensive MVP this year. She also was named to the Academic Allstate team.

“Jaylee takes on every challenge with dedication and determination and is one of the kindest people you may ever meet,” said Cindy White, who worked closely with Jaylee as her coach and as director of student leadership. “She leads with passion, is humble and is someone that can make an impact on everything and everyone she comes across.”

Jaylee’s parents, Cindy and Omar Vasquez, say they cannot take credit for their daughter’s success.

“We were teen parents; we had no idea what we were doing, and Jaylee came along and has taught us so much,” Cindy Vasquez said. “She has put herself out there; she has looked for ways to be involved and help others and we just go behind her, supporting her all the way and will continue to do so.”

Still, Jaylee credits much of her success to her parents and to an affirmation her mother taught her that is one of the guiding principles of her life.

“Every day when she dropped us off to school, she would tell us, ‘You can do anything and everything you dream of; no one can tell you otherwise,’” she said.