When I found junior Julie Johnson in the gym at 7:37 a.m. the morning of the pep fest, she was running. Sporting bright blue shorts and her varsity soccer shirt, Johnson had been awake for almost two hours.

In the spring of 2012 it was no surprise to her fellow classmates when Johnson was elected to EHS Student Council the spring of her freshman year, as her positive energy and infectious kindness is notorious. When I asked fellow students about Johnson, I was immediately overcome with only the highest regards and remarks about her genuine character. “I love Julie Johnson,” said EHS Student Council member Colin Dobin. “Her playful personality and sense of humor make it easy for me to relate to and interact with.”

Although at first a bit nervous upon receiving the task of preparing this year’s homecoming pep fest, Johnson didn’t let these jitters stop her in any way whatsoever. It’s a good thing too, because it takes real determination and responsibility to pull off these events. “There are so many things that need to get done and so much organization required,” remarked fellow Student Council member Leah Stewart. Stewart speaks from experience, as she was in charge of the homecoming bonfire this year. “For this pep fest especially you have to get everything coordinated. You have to talk to the band and the Hornettes. I know it was really hard but she managed to pull it off,” said Stewart.

Johnson tells us she has been working on this event since the second day of school. “We start by brainstorming ideas,” said Johnson. “Then we get in contact with Mrs. Carter and tell her which dance teams and whatever else we want. We find MC’s and get the drum line together… the list goes on.”

It’s not just in the classroom that Johnson prepares for the pep fest. Johnson spent many hours outside of class shopping for supplies for the event. She even recalled an awkward encounter with a salesperson when she bought 150 glow sticks at the dollar store. “I had to say, ‘Yeah, it’s for a pep fest for school…I promise I don’t just hang out with glow-sticks.’” Johnson is also in charge of getting scripts together for the video, the MC, and all the performances in the pep fest. And it’s not as easy as you might think. The scripts have to be timed to fit a precise time frame, which makes a lot of good ideas not possible. Johnson also had to get the script approved by her advisors which isn’t easy because “either it has been done before or it’s not appropriate,” remarked Johnson.

In the two and a half hours of our interview I have never seen anyone run as much as she did. Johnson was always active and she never stopped moving. Johnson started by highlighting scripts, then printing and distributing copies and updates, and the whole time was constantly being bombarded with questions. She doesn’t ever say no to helping anyone either – even her advisors ask her questions and look to her for advice. I was awestruck by her organization; every detail was planned for – Johnson had prepared lists of cues, lists of people and what they do, and she even managed to create the homecoming intro video in about an hour.

At about 8:33 a.m. I saw Johnson stop moving for the first time that morning. As she waited to get the microphones she looked over, smiled, and remarked, “I finally have time to tie my shoes.” However, Johnson only had a minute to do this and soon began to run through the schedule with the MC’s, David Smith and Griffin Ward. Meanwhile she was also multi-tasking, manually attaching glow sticks onto the drums of the drum line. In the gymnastics room she struggled to tape 150 glow sticks onto the instruments as fast as possible.

As she began to finally get everything ready other members of Student Council began to file in and listen to her orders. Everyone responded positively to Johnson. “When she tells me what to do I enjoy it,” remarked Dobin. “I like her so I don’t think of it as doing a job but a favor. She’s very thankful for everyone so working with her is almost like not work…. if that makes any sense,” he continued. When I talked to junior Andrew Brann about Johnson’s leadership, he remarked, “She is a very nice person – she knows how to make everyone feel included and she is very professional but a very fun person to be around.”

When I asked Johnson about the biggest challenges that come with being in a position of leadership, she said that it’s very difficult to order her friends around. “I don’t really feel comfortable bossing people around,” Johnson expanded. Johnson also remarked that the pressure can be a lot, and she continued, “Just every little thing could go wrong and you worry that it will.”

In the end, as anyone who was there would know, the pep fest was a complete success. Never before have I seen more joy than in the face of Johnson as she watched her weeks of hard work unfold before her. At first nervous, she was worried that something would go wrong but towards the end I saw a huge wave of relief go through her. Immediately afterwards she was showered with praise and hugs from her Student Council community, advisors, and fellow students. When I asked Johnson how she felt, she threw up her hands, fell backwards onto the floor and shouted “The load has been lifted!”