Jonathan Jones is a senior involved in many activities on campus including Executive Student Council, Hope Squad, Varsity Golf and is the senior class president. He is also a part of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council outside of school and runs his own landscaping business.
1. What have been your roles and responsibilities as part of StuCo and being class president?
Jones: My experience through Executive Student Council, and ultimately being a class officer, has been very positive. We do a lot of work as a team and we make a lot of things happen for the students at Walnut Grove. 
Ultimately being a class officer, our main responsibility is prom planning. So we spend a lot of time and make a lot of outstanding efforts to give upperclassmen the best experience they can have at prom. We want to make it as memorable as possible, as well as fitting into guidelines and budget lines.
2. What has been the hardest part of being in this leadership role?
Jones: I think the hardest part of it all is keeping everything in one box. It can get to being a lot at some points, you’ll have to bounce around to a lot of different meetings and a lot of different stuff. But ultimately, I think just keeping everything organized and just managing your time makes everything so much better.
3. What was your experience like with your summer internship and your landscaping business?
Jones: I’ll landscape yards, mowing, mulch and will work with rocks and stuff like that. I’ll do that anytime I can. I’ve had weeks where I’ve worked 7 days a week over the summertime. Then I was interning at a commercial excavation company over summer and that taught me so much. I was working in the field with some amazing people, and they taught me so much, they felt like family to me. I worked there all day from dawn to dusk, then I’d leave, and if I had time, I’d go mow a yard.
4. How did it feel when you learned you were awarded one of the L.E.A.D.E.R.S Awards?
Jones: My mom called me and said you’re one of seven,
and I was like one of seven what? She said, you were one of seven students picked to be one of the L.E.A.D.E.R.S awards, and I was so happy in that moment, I was cloud nine. I felt amazing about it and I’m happy that I could do anything I could to be a representative to other people.
5. How do you think you embody the characteristic of selflessness that you were awarded for?
Jones: I think being selfless is being someone that people can come and talk to. Being someone that people can reach out to no matter what. Being non-judgmental, being there for other people and listening to them. I think that’s a responsibility, especially as a class officer, to be someone that people can just come and talk to. They can always dump their ideas on you, stuff like that. Any chance I take to embody that or just be there for other people, I will take.
6. How did you get involved in the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council?
Jones: I filled out the application in September, it was an extensive application process, and it was decently competitive. I was super excited to get in, and from the 1st meeting I found out this was something that I really liked. 
I decided I wanted to run for an officer position amongst that council. I was lucky enough to be voted, amongst my peers, as the vice chair. Being involved in that taught me a lot about law, local law, taxes, zoning, everything that goes into this amazing town. 
It also taught me a lot about spilling your ideas. Even if it sounds stupid, it doesn’t matter. Say any idea, any question you have. I think that was the biggest thing I took away from that. Because I asked so many questions and many people amongst that council asked so many questions and they all got answers.
7. What are some things that you guys do as a council?
Jones: We’re in the works of a voter registration campaign. We also do various socials with other councils, where we’ll meet up with Frisco, Celina and Little Elm. We’ll talk with them about what they do and we also do food drives. If you’re an upcoming senior, I would highly advise filling an application for that, because that council does definitely need people who are passionate about it.
8. How do you balance everything you’re involved in?
Jones: I try to plan my day the night before I go to sleep. I will jot everything down, go to sleep, wake up, check it. The planner is like my baby. I don’t leave the house without a planner,
9. What are your future plans after high school?
Jones: I will be attending the University of Arkansas and majoring in finance. I want to get some sort of minor in construction management, and possibly maybe a pre-professional in law. My dream is to start my own excavation company.
I was inspired over the summer, through my internship for that, and I’ve always wanted to start my own construction or excavation company.
10. What advice do you have for current underclassmen?
Jones: If I could go back to my freshman year, I would say three things. Get a planner. It helps a lot. I wish I started doing that earlier, my GPA would be a lot better. Get involved, getting involved is awesome. 
Find something you like to do, whether that be a sport, whether that be yearbook, whether that be anything extracurricular, anything that you like to do. Getting involved helps so much. You make a lot of new friends. 
You meet so many great people, and ultimately, it makes the day go by really fast. And ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, ask as many as you can.
