Parting Words from Student Council President Lilly Shafer `26

For college, I will attend…

The University of Cincinnati to major in medical sciences. I then hope to attend medical school at UC so that I can work in pediatrics. I learned that I love working with kids through my experience working at CCDSummer. And staying close to home allows me to remain a regular part of my younger siblings’ lives.

It will be weird…

Not to see my friends, teachers, or the administration every day. Not sitting at the lunch table every day and dying laughing at something someone said will be very weird. I have loved my time here since the day I arrived at Country Day my freshman year. The community is so special and supportive. If you told my younger self that by senior year, I would be student council president, I would have laughed at you.

 I’m looking forward to…

My college program! I’m so excited to see all the classes I’m going to be taking, especially since I get to take a lot of math and science classes right away.

My favorite part about senior year is…

All the small things that we get to do as seniors – senior surprises, senior night, the class trip, prom. All these things are opportunities that we get to have as a grade to keep coming together, and as the end of the year approaches, it truly feels like we are closer than ever.

One of my favorite classes at Country Day was…

My AP chemistry class with Mrs. [Paula] Butler. I liked that class so much, even though it kicked my butt, because it challenged me, and I really enjoyed learning everything. I also enjoyed AP Biology with Mrs. J [Jill Jaksetic] because it pushed me to work harder. Oh, and Computer Science 2 was great, as well. I loved building a minigolf hole in that class.

What I’ll miss most about Country Day is…

All the small moments throughout the day, like giving Mr. Faulhaber a fist bump...and then he reacts with the “snail” every single time. Or skipping our homework and playing the imposter game with everyone who was free during B bell. It’s moments like that that I’ll miss the most.

My favorite memory of Country Day is…

Getting to run the Homecoming pep rally. I had never done anything like that before, and it took a lot of work, but in the end, I had so much fun cheering on all the little kids in their events and overseeing the traditional tug-of-war competition between all of the grades in the Upper School.

I definitely stress out about…

My classes. Like, 100 percent. I took DMac’s [Dr. Jeremiah McCall’s] history class, and it was vastly different from history classes at my previous school because his tests were all essay-based and really hard. But it taught me that I need to study a little more and work a bit harder. I remember going into my AP Chemistry final just wanting to get a “B,” knowing that it would be an OK grade to get because I knew how hard I had to work to get even that.

To me, leadership is…

Putting other people first and building connections. I think it’s important to ask others for their opinions instead of just going with my initial thoughts. It’s important to support and listen to people, especially if they are having a bad day.

My best piece of advice for next year’s senior class is…

Don’t take anything for granted. Be in the moment. You should absolutely care about your classes, but don’t make them everything. Do as much as you can with the time you have left. Go to every senior event to support your classmates. Try something new – I’m even playing flag football!

In 25 years, I hope to…

Be thriving in my career at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and be married with a big family, which is something I’ve always wanted. I hope that my kids will get to take the same path that I did by starting at St. Gertrude and then ending up at Country Day.