Rachel Stevens is our new Johannesburg mini council mayor
Once you read about Rachel Stevens you will want to be a good leader too.
A good leader is one who can articulate a vision, earn the respect of their team and encourage them to be their best.
These are quite arguably the traits that define Rachel Stevens. Traits, this Grade 7 Auckland Park Preparatory School learner will use now that she was appointed Johannesburg Mini Council Mayor.
The journey to becoming this leader saw her, and other candidates vying for the role. “In the speech, I did not speak about ‘I’ instead I spoke of ‘we.’ How ‘we’ as the mini council can do anything we put our minds to,” she said. Being elected to this role sent Stevens over the moon, “I was still processing it when they first told me, ‘me, a mayor, what?’”
She recounted how before got the role, she shared with her grandmother that not only does she want to be part of the mini council but that she really wants to be its mayor too. “After my gran reminded me that I had shared this dream with her the realisation was so overwhelming and it is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.”
In her role, she endeavours to work as a team with all her fellow councillors and wants to see them grow while making the changes they want to see in their communities. In one of her speeches, Stevens quoted Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ‘Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.’ She too believes that they, as the mini council, can make an impact on the world.
The young mayor loves that this role has afforded her the opportunity to meet people she would have otherwise never met. “Going to APPS is so amazing, but we only engage with people who go to similar schools as this,” she explained
Within their tenure, Stevens hopes the council can do a lot towards saving the environment. Like promoting the 30 by 30 global campaign that encourages people to conserve 30% of terrestrial and marine habitats by 2030. “I hope we can promote this across all schools in Joburg, encouraging them to set aside a little patch where they can grow indigenous plants.”
Another important facet is the charity work they do. The council is currently doing an Easter egg drive and for Stevens, it’s projects like these that, though they may sound small, pack a punch. Benefiting the community.
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