Darby Drozdenko

New ASB co-presidents Isabelle Muresan and Bishop Murff stand in the Lincoln library.

Seniors Bishop Murff and Isabelle Muresan are Lincoln’s newest All Student Body (ASB) co-presidents, two representatives of a 14 member committee in charge of implementing a culture of equity and inclusion at Lincoln through community-based events. Murff and Muresan have both been a part of leadership since their freshman years, and they appreciate the connections and opportunities they’ve gained through leadership.

Muresan values creativity and enjoys writing short stories and poetry, painting, sewing and singing in her free time. As a result, her goals for this year include uplifting the arts programs and women’s athletics at Lincoln.

“I feel like [these programs] have always been looked down on or not really given the attention they deserve,” said Muresan.

Murff believes one way he can improve Lincoln as a co-president is to invite students and peers into a safe environment with inclusive school activities, rather than isolating them.

“The events will allow students to come together in a place where they feel comfortable and make friends with people they’ll know and go to school with,” said Murff. “The goal is to get more hype around those things so people actually show up.”

Muresan agrees and proposes that the student body eliminate “cancel culture.”

“A big issue we have at Lincoln is a lack of community, partially because of all the hate speech we had last year,” said Muresan. “I feel like [cancel culture] is a major result of it, and everyone feels disconnected and isolated, so people kind of lash out.”

As a part of their positions, Muresan and Murff oversee the roles of the freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior class cabinets, ensuring everyone is doing their part to build a more positive community. The cabinets plan events like school dances, Lincapalooza and the wellness fair. Murff says there is some confusion as to who is responsible for planning which events.

“We’re kind of in a transition period to try and define everyone’s role a little stronger,” said Murff.

There is often flexibility with roles in the leadership class, allowing for students to plan events they’re most passionate about. Murff has ambitions to change the school bell sound and organize a more efficient way to make announcements over the speaker. He says everyone in leadership contributes ideas.

“It’s pretty flowy and everybody works together. It’s not an ‘Oh snap I’m ASB and you’re senior class [cabinet]. That means I can do this and you can do that and we can’t both do the same thing.’ Everybody can do everything,” said Murff.

Murff’s favorite thing about being co-president is having a presence in Lincoln that builds community and excitement.

“[When] I feel like I can lead a group of individuals through a tour, through a fun time, through an activity that we’re hosting at Lincoln,” said Murff. “[Then] that just gives me the most joy, and that’s why I love leadership so much.”