Hi everyone, I'm Stefano Mendoza, and I'm running for Student Council President.
What I love most about Saint Thomas the Apostle is that we are more than just a school — we are a family.
One thing I've learned is that leadership is not about being the loudest person in the room. It's about being respectful, responsible, and willing to help others.
A good leader listens, cares about people, and works to make everyone feel welcomed and valued.
I always try to do what is right, work hard, and support my friends however I can.
That's the kind of president I want to be for our school.
It would mean so much to me to represent our school community.
Thank you for believing in me and for supporting my campaign.
Stefano’s Speech to STA
“A Voice That Listens.” 🌪️💙
Hello Tornados!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about my ideas and goals for our school. Running for Student Council President means so much to me because STA feels like a family, and I would be honored to represent our amazing community.
Below is my official campaign speech where I share my ideas, goals, and vision for making STA even more fun, united, and exciting for everyone.
🌪️ My Speech
Hello Tornados! 🌪️
My name is Stefano Mendoza, and I’m running for Student Council President. Running for president already means so much to me, and I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to represent a school that feels like a family to so many of us. If elected, I hope to bring more fun activities, new opportunities, and meaningful ideas to our school community.
🎨 Clubs, Sports & Activities
Some of the ideas I’m most excited about include creating more school spirit through a fun Tornado mascot, organizing unforgettable seasonal events like Winter Fest, and giving students more opportunities to explore their interests through clubs, sports, and creative activities. I would love to encourage clubs to work together and create activities that students across all grades can enjoy. I also hope to help introduce more sports and activities like lacrosse, gymnastics, tennis, and dance, so more students can discover something they enjoy and feel included. I want every student to feel like there’s something exciting for them at STA and that everyone has the opportunity to get involved, discover new passions, and be part of our school community.
♻️ Helping Our School & Community
Another goal of mine is helping make STA cleaner and more environmentally friendly by adding more recycling bins around campus. I also want to create more seasonal events that bring students and families together and help build stronger friendships throughout our community.
❄️ Winter Fest & Holiday Magic
Since Miami doesn’t really get a winter season like other places, I would love to bring some of that holiday magic to STA inspired by things I used to enjoy while living in Boston. Imagine snow-themed experiences at STA, even here in Miami with fake snow, snowball games, winter decorations, holiday music, hot chocolate, and fun activities that bring excitement and joy to students and families. One idea inspired by those memories is a Santa’s Workshop event where families could donate ornaments and small gifts, and students could “shop” for presents at a very low cost. The goal would be to give students the special experience of choosing surprise gifts for their parents, siblings, and even abuelos while also spreading kindness throughout our community.
💙 📚 More Fun Ideas
I would also love to organize a mid-year book exchange where students can trade books in good condition and help encourage reading across all grades. And of course, I would love to help bring even more school spirit to STA with a fun Tornado mascot that could appear during events and activities to bring excitement to students of all ages.
💙 Leadership That Listens
And more importantly than any activity or proposal, I want to be a president who listens.
Someone students can talk to.
Someone who cares.
Someone who tries their best to bring people together.
Because leadership is not about being the loudest or most popular person. It's about caring about your community, helping others feel included, and doing your best to make school a better place for everyone.
🌪️ Together We Rise
These are just some of my ideas and proposals, but you can learn more throughout my website. Thank you for supporting my campaign and believing in my ideas for STA.
🗳️ Vote Stefano Mendoza for Student Council President️
🌪️ Together We Rise 🌪️
Campaign Proposals
Here's what Stefano will work on as your President — real ideas to make STA a better place for everyone.
- Help continue making STA a place where every student feels welcomed, respected, and included.
- Create fun kindness activities and recognize students who show leadership and school spirit.
- Create a way for students to safely share ideas, suggestions, and concerns.
- Make sure every student feels heard.
- Creative spirit days
- Friendly grade competitions
- Music & lunch activities
- Themed community events
- Artificial snow & winter decorations
- Music & hot chocolate
- Festive activities for all grades
- "Santa's Workshop" stations for younger students
- Add recycling bins around campus for paper and plastic.
- Help keep STA cleaner and more environmentally friendly.
- Teach younger students small habits that make a big difference.
- Learn about AI, technology, robotics & digital creativity
- Explore future careers in tech
- Safe and responsible use of AI for learning
- School-wide trade of gently used books in good condition.
- Encourage reading, sharing, and discovering new stories.
- Help families spend less while finding great reads.
- Middle school students take turns helping in the school kitchen.
- Learn teamwork, responsibility & food preparation basics.
- Appreciate the people who help run STA every day.
- Explore bringing new sports like Lacrosse to STA.
- Give students more opportunities in team activities.
- Help students discover new interests and talents.
- Encourage inclusion during lunch, recess & activities.
- Help new or quieter students feel more connected.
- Promote peer tutoring and study support between students.
- Encourage teamwork and helping classmates succeed.
- Organize cultural activities that bring grades together.
- Highlight the diversity and traditions that make STA special.
- Encourage pride in keeping classrooms & outdoor spaces clean.
- Add school spirit decorations and community projects.
- Highlight one student suggestion every month.
- Work with teachers & student council to bring ideas to life.
- Bulletin boards for student art, messages & achievements.
- Interactive spaces where students can contribute ideas.
Mascot Initiative
Bringing More School Spirit, Unity, and Fun to STA
One of my ideas as Student Council President would be to help introduce a more active and recognizable STA Tornado mascot experience for the school community. The tornado is already an important part of STA's identity, and I believe it could become an even more fun and exciting way to bring students together across all grades.
💙 Goals of the Mascot Initiative
- Increase school spirit and excitement during events.
- Create more unity between younger and older students.
- Make school activities even more memorable and fun.
- Encourage participation during spirit weeks and community events.
🌪️ Possible Mascot Activities
- Mascot appearances during spirit days.
- Greeting students during special events.
- Participating in school celebrations and games.
- Taking photos with younger students.
- Helping create a more energetic and positive atmosphere.
🎉 Future Event Ideas Featuring the Mascot
❄️ STA WinterFest & Santa's Workshop ❄️
Bringing a Little Winter Magic to Sunny Miami 🌴☀️
One of my favorite ideas for STA is creating a WinterFest experience inspired by winter festivals from places with snowy winters.
Even though winters in Miami are definitely nicer weather-wise, I feel like many kids miss out on some of the traditions and experiences that come with snowy holiday seasons. For many children, those winter traditions become some of their happiest memories growing up.
Spending a big part of my childhood in Boston, I was able to experience both sides, and I think students and families in Miami would love the opportunity to experience a big Christmas celebration filled with the excitement, atmosphere, and traditions that make winter festivals feel so magical.
WinterFest could include:
- ☃️ Snow-themed activities
- 🎄 Beautiful holiday decorations
- ☕ Hot chocolate stations
- 🎶 Christmas music and carols
- 📸 Professional-style Santa photo backgrounds
- 🎅 Santa visits and holiday characters
- ✨ Lights and festive decorations around campus
- ❤️ Family-friendly activities for all ages
The goal is to create special holiday traditions and memories that students will remember for years.
🎁 Santa's Workshop
One of the parts of WinterFest that means the most to me is the idea of creating a Santa's Workshop inspired by the holiday traditions I experienced growing up.
The idea is simple, but I think it could become something really special for our school community.
Every family could donate a small Christmas ornament, holiday decoration, or gift item worth around $10–$15. All the donated items would then be organized into a beautiful holiday "shop" during WinterFest.
Students from every grade would then have the opportunity to walk through Santa's Workshop and independently choose small surprise gifts for their parents, siblings, abuelos, and loved ones. The idea is to let kids experience the excitement of picking out meaningful presents on their own, choosing whatever catches their heart and reminds them of the people they love most.
Since parents are usually the ones shopping for their children during the holidays, I think it would be really special to create a moment where the kids get to experience the joy of giving back and surprising their families with gifts they personally selected themselves.
To make sure every student can participate, the items would be kept affordable, around $1–$10, while still making the experience feel magical, meaningful, and memorable for the students.
To make the experience even more special:
- 🎁 Younger students could shop first
- 🎀 8th graders and teachers could help with shopping and gift wrapping
- 🎄 Holiday music and decorations would create a magical atmosphere
- ❤️ Students would learn thoughtfulness, generosity, and community spirit
I truly believe this could become one of those beautiful STA traditions that students look forward to every year and remember long after they graduate.
🎄 WinterFest Holiday Market
Another exciting part of WinterFest could be creating a Holiday Market inspired by traditional winter festivals and Christmas markets.
Families, local vendors, and school groups could set up small decorated holiday booths selling:
- ✨ Christmas ornaments
- 🍪 Holiday treats
- 🎁 Handmade gifts
- 🎨 Crafts and decorations
- ☕ Seasonal drinks and snacks
Part of the proceeds could help support activities for the 8th grade class, the drama club, and other student programs.
To make it even more fun, WinterFest could include:
- 🏆 A competition for the best decorated holiday booth
- 🎅 Professional-style Santa photo experiences
- 🎶 Live holiday music and performances
- 📸 Winter-themed photo spots
- ✨ Festive lights and decorations throughout the event
The goal would be to create a warm, magical, family-friendly event that brings the entire STA community together and creates traditions students can look forward to every year.
Learn more about who Stefano is, what he believes in, and why he wants to help make STA more united, fun, and welcoming for everyone.
Why do you want to run for student council president?
"I want to help make our school feel more united, plan fun activities, and make sure everyone feels included and part of the school."
What would you like to improve at school?
"I'd like to create more clubs, more after-school activities, and more fun events so students can have more ways to get involved and enjoy school."
What makes you a good leader?
"I like listening to everyone's ideas, being respectful to others, and showing everybody that kindness always wins."
What's your favorite thing about our school?
"My favorite thing about our school is my friends and teachers because they make school feel fun and like a community every day."
How would your friends describe you?
"My friends would probably describe me as kind, good-hearted, and a loyal friend who will always respect them."
Favorite subject?
"My favorite subject is science because I enjoy learning how things work and discovering new things."
What do you like to do outside of school?
"I like talking to my friends and spending time with my family, especially my brother Francesco."
Favorite food?
"My favorite food is a chicken sandwich."
Favorite holiday?
"My favorite holiday is Christmas because you get to spend time with your family and make special memories together."
Dream place to visit?
"My dream place to visit is Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, because they look exciting and full of cool things to explore."
Dogs or cats?
"I love both, but if I had to pick one, I’d say cats."
Morning person or night owl?
"I’m definitely more of a night owl."
Something people may not know about you?
"Something people may not know about me is that I visited Cuba when I was only 2 and a half months old."
Biggest pet peeve?
"My biggest pet peeve is when people don’t respect other people’s opinions."
Favorite school lunch?
"My favorite school lunch is a chicken sandwich."
If you could have one superpower?
"If I could have one superpower, it would be teleportation because I would save tons of money on airline tickets."
If you were a teacher for one day?
"Probably no homework :)"
Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?
"Definitely no. Hint from my name… my family is Peruvian-Italian, my bisabuela would probably kill us lol."
What’s one thing you always have with you?
"My cellphone."
What would you do if you won?
"One of my ideas is to help bring lacrosse to the school, so if that happens, I’d definitely join the team!"
GO TORNADOS