For the past three years, Laura Adams has probably spent more time in Rock Ridge’s auditorium than at her own house. She has been an actress, a stage manager, and has gone to governor’s school for music. Now, as a senior, she’s taking on her biggest challenge: being president of the choir board for the second time.

Q: Why did you apply to become president of the choir board?

A: I was encouraged to apply by Mr. Markwood. He had talked to me saying that he believed I would be a good candidate for choir board, and then I ended up filling out the application, and then he made me president.

Q: What is the purpose of the choir board?

A: We help organize choir events. We help run the choir concerts and rehearsals that we have. We also help advocate for what’s happening in classes, if people aren’t having a good time, or what works in classes and what doesn’t. We also help manage our gowns, our music, and all that.

Q: How is being president going to help you later in life for professional goals?

A:  I want to be a choir director, and I feel that it has really helped me with leadership. It’s helped me learn ways of kindly nudging people and saying, ‘Hey, this needs to be done,’ but not being [too harsh and saying] ‘You need to get this done.’ So, it’s helped me just positively learn how to be a good leader and also take account of other people’s feelings.”

Q: As president, what goals do want choir to accomplish this year?

A: I really hope that we can finally get more organized. There’s a lot of unknown, but I feel like already this year we’ve gotten better with keeping on track and setting dates for things and figuring out how things are going to be planned and how they are organized. And I also hope that people just have fun because I know sometimes things get super stressful. Especially when you’re on choir board and we have a big event, things get stressful, and I also just want people to be able to enjoy whatever we’re doing.

Q: Has there been anything that surprised you about the job?

A: Not really. I mean, [Mr. Markwood] told me what the job was gonna be. I feel like it’s more of listening to my peers than being instructive. It’s a lot of just like, ‘Okay, I understand what you’re saying. I understand that you’re busy.’ instead of being like ‘You need to do this, you need to do that.’

Q: What makes the choir board unique and different from other boards and clubs?

A: I feel we have a lot more say in things [compared to other school organizations]. For [the] choir board, a lot of the students lead. Mr. Markwood’s there, obviously, to help us whenever we need help and helps guide us, but we do a lot of the work [on our own].

Q: How much time do you spend working on stuff for the choir board?

A: Mostly everything, for me, happens in the meeting. I will spend about maybe three to four times a week texting people and emailing people [about tasks] or [bringing things up like] ‘I have an idea for this. Let’s talk about it at the next meeting’. For spirit days, [we] will [send] texts [to] people saying, ‘Hey, we have a spirit day.” But I don’t use a ton of time. That’s also why it’s great.

Q: What leadership style do you tend to do?

A: My job mostly consists of reminding people what their tasks are and helping them stay on task, so I’m kind of like an overseer. I don’t really have a specific job to do. I’m kind of like a fly on the wall for everybody’s tasks to make sure that everything else is being done.