Senior Owen Ulmer – I’m Owen.
Junior Patrick May – I’m Patrick.
Ulmer – And this is Leaders of West.
May – Today, we sat down with senior [and] class president, Kamori Berry.
Ulmer – Where we talked about how decisions are made here at West.
May – And how they are made.
Ulmer – Ok, so I am here with Kamori Berry. How are you today?
Senior Kamori Berry – I am wonderful.
Ulmer – Ok so correct me if I’m wrong, you are the class president for 2026?
Berry – I am.
Ulmer – What else are you in charge of?
Berry – I have a leadership role in Black Student Union (BSU). I’m in the Choir Leadership Program (CLP) in choir. What else do I do? I think that’s really it. Sometimes I forget.
Ulmer – How long have you been the class president for the class of 2026?
Berry – Four years.
Ulmer – Four years, ok what has that been like the past four years being the class president, and what are some responsibilities with that?
Berry – I think for the past four years it’s definitely gotten easier, especially since I know our grade really well and I know what they need from me as a president. Some of my responsibilities include planning homecoming, and I do a lot during the pep rally; that’s really my main job. The Special Olympics is one of my biggest events; we have to start preparing for that in November. I also help run the Holiday Cup when we verse the other schools, which is fun. I do Teacher Appreciation Week, I help figure out what our theme is gonna be for prom, and I do that with my co-vice president, [senior] Camden Wilford.
Ulmer – That’s a lot. With being in charge of all that, how do you balance having a social life and school all that?
Berry – It’s really not that difficult. Ever since I was little, I loved being in leadership roles and doing that type of stuff, so it’s kind of second nature to me.
May – What’s been your favorite memory of being President?
Berry – That’s a really good question. I think watching the underclassmen get to grow in [Longhorn Council] (LOCO) and take on those leadership positions makes me feel comfortable that when I leave, they’re still gonna continue the legacy that was once left for me, and knowing that they can handle it all.
Ulmer – So, as a leader, what are your main goals?
Berry – To always make sure everyone is heard, to make sure I do everything according to plan, make sure everyone is having fun, and just know I’m there if you need me as a person and a leader.
May – How do you make sure that goals are happening?
Berry – I pre-plan everything that I do. I have a checklist, and I check everything off.
Ulmer – Ok, I’m gonna talk about LOCO. As a leader in LOCO, what are your main responsibilities other than planning?
Berry – Basically, I’m supposed to lead most of our meetings in LOCO, which that’s something new that I’ve had to process because usually we have a new sponsor this year, Ms. Arenos (Health and Yoga teacher plus head of LOCO), because in the past it’s always been [Lovercheck] (Athletic Director) and she usually led everything so it’s kind of interesting for me to take on that role and knowing I have to check in on everyone to make sure they are doing their roles right and if somethings not right its my job to help them fix it.
May – Being such a huge part of West for so long, how do you connect with other people?
Berry – I try to get to know everybody and to know everybody’s backgrounds and all that because you know, I’m the class president, I’m the student body, I need to know everybody and need to be understanding with everyone.
Ulmer – Ok, so I wanna talk about schoolwork-wise, I know we talked about this earlier, but with such a packed schedule, how do you manage your schoolwork and all that?
Berry – It’s really not that difficult now, especially because we have ac-lab LOCO time, like that’s our time. I would say my freshman and sophomore years were more difficult because we didn’t have designated time to do stuff, but I’m really good at managing my school time. I also balance that with work, too, so whenever I have a free chance to do the work, I try to do it early.
May – With graduation so close, what’s your main takeaway from being president here at West?
Berry – I just wanna make sure everyone has a good senior year and a good time, that’s my biggest focus right now.
Ulmer – Do you have a plan right now after high school, like go to college or take the skills you learned here to that?
Berry – Yeah, I am. I am going to Clark Atlanta, and I’m going to go into Political Science.
Ulmer – What has been your favorite year here at West, and what was your most challenging year?
Berry – My favorite year was definitely junior year, but my most challenging year was also junior year. Especially since we are getting ready to go to college and ACT and all that, it was just harder to balance all that. It was a. It was a huge struggle for me getting into that upperclassman leadership role because you have to do a lot more than when you are an underclassman.
May – If you could go back and do one thing different what would you do?
Berry – I think Last year I would have started Homecoming preparations a little earlier. It’s just more difficult because we got a lot of new kids, and they didn’t know how to do a lot of the stuff I know how to do yet.
Ulmer – What goes into planning all this? Do you guys have meetings? Do you guys talk all the time?
Berry – During the summer, we actually come up here two days back-to-back if we can’t finish everything that we need to figure out by school. We figure out what the themes are gonna be, what’s the whole point of this, we choose what grade gets to do what, and obviously, since we are seniors, seniors get top dog pick and all that. It’s just kind of difficult now because [Wilford] and I have been the only ones on the board for four years since everyone else is gone, so we are still processing how to make sure everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing.
Ulmer – Thank you for listening to the Leaders of West.
May – And good luck to Kamori in her near future.
