Melissa Perez is one of the most active people in the East High School community, whether or not you recognize her by name you’ve definitely seen her lending her talents to numerous parts of East High School including cheer, the spring play, and student government. Perez loves East High School and all it has to offer to students and staff alike.

How are you doing as Vice President?
“It’s been good everything has been running smoothly and being junior class senator was really good preparation”

What actions have the student government been working on?
“We are currently working on expanding culture night and improving the fashion show”

What are your hopes for the future of student government?
“My hopes for the future of student government are to make new traditions and keep the old ones alive and to keep the momentum we’ve had from all the work we’ve done”

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to run for student government?
“Just do it, be confident and ask all of your friends to vote for you, also go to the student government meetings since they’re open to the public”

What inspired you to audition?
“I was doing IHSSA and Mrs Johnson told me the theater department was looking for cheerleaders for the play and recommended me”

What are your feelings about theatre so far?
“It’s a fun judgement free environment where it feels like everyone can be themselves”

Would you recommend being in a theatre production to your friends, and why?
“I absolutely would as long as they wanted to do it It’s a very fun experience.”

How did you take to all of the work such as characterization, line learning etc?
“I was kind of struggling with the lines at first, but repetition helped me out. As for the characterization I would always repeat to myself What Would Evil Tina Do”

How did you get into cheer?
“When I was a kid, I was in gymnastics and then went into dance and then I joined cheer”

What is a misconception people have about cheer?
“That cheer is not a sport because we work very hard, and I understand sideline cheer, but competitive cheer is absolutely a sport”

Would you want to pursue cheer in the future Why or Why not?
“I was thinking about it, but I don’t really want to go to college and would rather work as a flight attendant