Christopher (Chris) Shin (‘23) is excited to be serving as the school-wide president for the 2022-2023 school year. By accepting this position, Shin has set multiple goals which he hopes to achieve by the end of his term.
Shin aims to lead and increase the student voice initiative within East’s community, as well as make the school experience safe and enjoyable for all students.

“I want East to be a safe place for everyone,” Shin said, “I want every student, all 2,100+ East students, to have a say in all of the activities that East holds.”

Some of his largest responsibilities as president include working on behalf of the students and speaking with the school principal regularly. He is also responsible for making sure that all of SGA runs efficiently.

“Each month, we hold meetings with all of SGA. This includes the class officers and the class representatives for each grade,” said Shin. He went on to add that there is always constant communication between him and the class officers in between the monthly meetings to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

After COVID-19 impacted both the community and the music world, Shin created a new club at East-East Musicians On Call (EMC) – to lend a helping hand to the community and bring back the joy of spreading music.

Shin is heavily involved in East’s music program. On top of EMC and SGA, Shin is also an important member of the symphony orchestra, Model United Nations (Model UN), and Interact Club.

Shin’s SGA journey began in his freshmen year when he ran for class president. After losing the election, he was later elected as a class representative. This happened again in his sophomore year. However, he didn’t give up.

“If it is meant to be, it will happen. I wasn’t going to lose hope,” said Shin, “I knew that there was a chance I could lose again, but I still tried.”

At the end of his sophomore year, he was elected as the school-wide vice president for his junior year and when junior year rolled around he was running for school-wide president, hoping to receive this sought-after position for his final year at East.

Shin feels proud knowing how much of an impact his time at East has brought to the school community. While he is sad that that time is almost up, he plans on continuing to serve as the most honorable president possible for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year.

Shin believes that his experiences in SGA will inspire future SGA members to follow their dreams and be patient with the system.

“Even if you lose freshmen year, even if you lose again sophomore year…keep trying and ultimately you will end up being a leader of the school, whatever that means for you,” said Shin.

While he intends on going to college for a neuroscience and public health major, Shin still wants to continue his musical journey. He hopes that he can bring his love for supporting the community through music with him as well as his drive to lead as he transitions into college. Whatever path Shin decides to take in his near future, there is no doubt that he’ll accomplish and pursue great things.