Through sticky notes or therapy, Sultan senior wants to help

SULTAN — High school senior Jasmine Romero knows what it’s like to go through a rough patch. That’s why the 18-year-old has dedicated her time at Sultan High School to helping others and hopes to pursue a degree in psychology after she graduates.

Question: You’re the president of Student Voice. What is that?

Answer: Student Voice is a group of students at Sultan that tries to make the environment and culture better. For example, we’ve done encouraging sticky notes in the girls’ bathroom, we’ve passed out lemonade and hot chocolate, we’ve put sayings on the staircase and we were able to obtain gravel last year and put it down because people were complaining about flooding. We try and focus on everybody as a whole and try to be more welcoming at SHS.

Q: Sticky notes?

A: Some people don’t receive the assurance or compliments they should. Everybody deserves to be respected, have kindness shown to them, feel loved by others and feel loved by themselves. So when we put sticky notes in the girls’ bathroom some girls really liked it. Although some people did and still do try to ruin our efforts, we try and stay positive.

Q: How did you get involved in the club?

A: We started meeting last year. I was at a lunch table where there was a sign-up sheet for Student Voice. At first I didn’t want to do it but I did because everyone else was. I ended up really liking it. Last year it wasn’t an official club. This year we took the initiative and I went to a board meeting to go discuss it and get it approved.

Q: Why is this club something you’re passionate about?

A: I’m passionate about Student Voice because I really like helping people… Even a small act of kindness can really bring someone’s day up because you don’t know what others are going through. I try to assure people that everything is going to be okay although it may not be now.

Q: You also mentioned that you like to help people through rough times because you’ve been through some yourself. Do you want to expand on that?

A: Freshman year I was very depressed… That was a really bad time in my life and I ended up moving away from my mother to come to Washington. By moving, I felt like I was giving up everything in my life. My mom is my world. Through that, I’ve learned that although people may not know it, people go through rough patches. I feel like if I can even make one person smile, my actions are worth it.

Q: What do you want to do after you graduate?

A: I want to study psychology. I want to do my pre-recs at Bellevue College and then transfer.

Q: Why psychology?

A: Through my rough patch I felt like I hurt my mom a lot and I hurt myself in the process also. I felt like I used a lot of people back then because of what I was going through and I felt like others were using me. So I ended up going to therapy and I really liked how they try and help others. I want to go into psychology because I want to help people that go through trauma and rough patches in their lives because I believe everybody deserves to know everything will get better.

Q: What else are you involved in outside of school?

A: I work at Jump, Rattle & Roll. I work birthday parties there on weekends. We set up the party so the host doesn’t have to stress about it.

Q: What’s something you’re really proud of?

A: Personally, I feel like the biggest accomplishment I have had so far is accepting that I don’t really know myself. I thought freshman year that I knew everything about myself but I realized I really only know the basics and that I want to get to know myself.

Julia-Grace Sanders: 425-339-3439; jgsanders@heraldnet.com.