Meet Jada Watson '24

The first thing you notice about Jada Watson is the speed at which she talks. Ask her a question and the answers will bubble out of her. Ask for her opinion and she’ll give you three or four. It’s as if the ideas have been percolating inside her mind, just waiting to burst out, waiting for the speed at which she can explain things to catch up to the speed at which her ideas come to her. If you are having a bad day, go see Jada Watson. You’ll forget about your troubles and quickly find yourself laughing, wondering, and getting involved. Jada Watson will keep you busy.

As Pingry’s newest Student Body President, Jada is already busy fielding questions on what activities will be planned; can this or that be added to campus; what, exactly, can be done. Can a refrigerator be added to the senior area? Jada promises to look into it (though she wonders who will clean it). Can the senior area have speakers playing music for them to relax to? Jada checks with Ms. Dunbar and gets a yes—so long as the seniors promise to check in before pressing play. Students are already coming to her with questions about Senior Prank Day—Jada keeps these details vague, but it’s clear the early planning will lead to something epic.

Jada has been involved in student government off and on since the 5th grade. “I love it because it gives me a place to grow. I’ve learned what it’s like to be a leader,” she says. As junior class president, she felt it only made sense to run for student body president. And, of course, she had ideas. A lot of them.

She is determined to amplify community building activities to strengthen connections between students, faculty, and the wider community as a whole. What does she have in mind, specifically?

“Fun,” says Jada, emphatically. Yes, that’s right. Fun.

It bothers Jada that people outside of Pingry perceive it to be a pressure cooker. “A lot of the time people look at Pingry and (at this, she gives an exaggerated sigh) “Ugh! Pressure cooker! Everyone’s tired! And stressed! They have so much work to do!” She drops the stern voice and laughs. “Yes, we work really hard. Pingry is a very academically rigorous school. But at the same time, we know how to have fun.”

Jada considers fun to be a key ingredient to success—not the side dish, not the desert, and certainly not the seasoning on top. It’s the secret sauce. The magic that elevates the otherwise mundane. Jada is convinced that when people are having fun, they are trying harder, and when they are trying harder, they are excelling. They are having a blast challenging themselves. How dare anyone misinterpret that as a pressure cooker?

“Play clears the mind,” she says firmly.

On her lacrosse team, Jada describes with some reverence a phenomenon called Benergy—short for “bench energy”—whereby players on the field play significantly better when the players on the bench are cheering and rooting for them with the force of such enthusiastic energy it changes the momentum of the game. It’s this positive momentum that Jada is bringing with her as student body president. She is bringing more than a platform with a list of prudent activities. Jada Watson is bringing a vibe. A mindset. An attitude.

Benergy.

Lacrosse Coach Carter Abbott has observed Jada’s enthusiasm firsthand, and praises her for her “can-do attitude” and the way she has grown as a defender. “More importantly,” notes Carter, “her leadership and contribution to our famous “benergy” or “bench energy” is unmatched. She embodies what we hope for in all our PLAX players.”

As student body president, Jada is bringing a wave of positive momentum, the way her particular brand of enthusiasm and confidence was meant to, and the way only seniors can when they realize the end of their high school days are fast approaching. She’ll be at the morning meetings next year, going over various announcements, and setting the tone by playing a song of the week at each assembly. Tone? Really, it’s a vibe.

She is looking forward to making the most of it—for her friends, for the seniors, and for strengthening all those connections in the Pingry. She knows how special it all is. “Pingry is a place where you don’t have to be one thing,” she says. “You can be many things at once.”

In life, sometimes you are on the field making the plays. And sometimes you are on the bench. Wherever you find yourself, from one moment to the next, Jada Watson has a reminder for you:

Bring. The. Benergy.

It truly makes all the difference.