In her senior year, Evelyn McCann is kicking into high gear, having taken on numerous leadership roles in her various clubs and commitments. McCann is cheer captain, president of Fellowship Club, a member of SCA, senior class panel vice president and a service chair for the National Honor Society (NHS).
“It’s definitely a lot stressful, trying to balance everything,” McCann said. “It’s a really good skill, though, to be able to lead.”
Each position asks different things of McCann and draws on separate skills. As cheer captain, she keeps up morale and supports her team; as NHS service chair, she helps find service opportunities for members; as class panel vice president, she helps with smaller tasks and for SCA, she emcees the pep rallies.
Fellowship Club, however, is one of McCann’s personal passion projects.
“Fellowship club is, like, my baby,” she said. “I’m really hoping it’ll go well.”
Fellowship Club is a Christian club, separate from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, that aims to encourage connection throughout the community. Inspired by her friend, a leader of the Fellowship Club at another school, McCann started her own chapter at Valley.
McCann has faced different challenges as president of Fellowship Club than in her other roles, having to build a program from scratch rather than building on existing expectations.
“It’s mostly just figuring out how we’re going to do this, because it’s our first year ever having this club,” she said.
With an already intensive workload of AP and DE courses, the responsibility of all these positions can become hard to handle all too quickly.
When the stress of her classes and commitments gets to her, McCann relies on the strength of her relationships with God and her friends and family.
“My faith helps me,” she said. “That’s probably the biggest thing, and just taking time to calm down, talk to my mom.”
As McCann moves forward onto college, she hopes to participate in more student government and to carry the lessons she’s learned about leadership into her future career — whatever that may be.
“The most important thing about leadership is putting others before yourself,” McCann said.
“Making sure you’re not being a leader for your own personal name, but to help the people around you.”
