Hey Strath Haven! 

My name is Ella Liberi, and I was the student council president for the 2024-2025 school year. The editors of The Panther Press reached out to me and asked if I would write a “farewell letter” to the students, staff, and community of SHHS to wrap up our time together. Of course, I agreed, but that was before I knew the word court. I only have 500 words to sum an entire year of memories, championships, school spirit, friendships, and everything in between.

If you were to have asked freshman year Ella what made Strath Haven such a special place, I would have listed our biggest events. Things like homecoming, pep rallies, the blood drive, spring fling, frosh, football games, or school-wide fundraisers. As student council president, I had the opportunity to help shape some of our shared student experience. Student council was involved in planning our Night in Greece dance, orchestrating a holiday toy drive, making theme days like color wars, and even bringing an inflatable obstacle course to the middle school blacktop. 

If you asked me now what made Strath Haven a special place, my answer would have changed. Yes, all of the events that we put on here at Haven are fun and enjoyable, but it wasn’t me who made them fun. It wasn’t the Student Council either. It was all of us. What makes Strath Haven a special place is all of us. It’s the raging school spirit we bring to the Panther Pack, it’s the laughs that we share with our friends at lunch, it’s the relationships that we’ve built with the SHHS staff members, and it’s so much more. 

What’s funny is that what makes Haven so special is different for all of us. For me that comes from memories you may not all be aware of: Maddie, Josie, and I hugging in the bleachers as students left the pep rally; Student Council members sprawled over the 4th floor hallway making posters for every kind of school event; getting to walk with my family onto the field at senior night; conducting the marching band in the bleachers during a close game; hosting Dance Haven; spending days outside competing in Envirothon; and even just saying hello to my friends in the hallway. 

I’ve found that what I’m going to miss the most is all of you. Thank you for making me feel welcomed and supported in my time as president. I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors. Please remember… Haven Runs Delco!!

Thanks for everything,

Ella Liberi