Most of the best student leaders often spend their academic years getting involved and socializing with more people. Sometimes, even the most unexpected people end up becoming one of the best leaders.
Landstown High School’s (LHS) Student Cooperative Association (SCA) Senior President Coy Mendigorin, who was once quoted as a “quiet freshman” by SCA’s former sponsor, Ms. Hanback, has become a confident and impactful leader throughout his SCA journey.
When Mendigorin initially wanted to get involved with SCA, he was interested in expanding his social circle, but as he grew into his role, he became focused on the community aspect because he enjoyed working with others and making their day. Through the months of working for SCA, it became apparent to him that his strong dedication was more than enough to encourage him to run for SCA Secretary for his junior year.
Fast forward to this year, Mendigorin had decided to continue his SCA journey with a more demanding and prestigious role of becoming president.
He focused his campaigning through in-person advertising, as he found that physical promotion was much more effective than only using social media.
“It was just a lot of making posters, a lot of networking; I mainly focused on telling people by ear, because not a lot of people follow me on social media,” Mendigorin says.
Currently, Mendigorin is finishing his senior year strong, by hurdling through being the main figure in planning and executing LHS school events such as Homecoming, Winterfest, Pep rallies, etc.
Without the help of a sponsor, Mendigorin used his past experience in preparing for pep rallies by making the last pep rally of the year one to remember. From keeping everyone on schedule to a spontaneous dunk contest, many students reported that this was the best pep rally yet.
By efficiently optimizing work and time, he is able to tackle any challenges that arise in SCA.
“I would say he really kind of leaned on his group of sponsors and officers to kind of sit down and make a game plan and see what the best way to approach something whenever a problem arose,” Ms. Hanback says.
What many students do not see behind the scenes of SCA is that Mendigorin makes great use of collaborating with the other officers efficiently, as well as committing his own time and effort reaching out to other schools and working with other staff members to make school events happen.
“What people don’t see is the time and planning that’s put into being president and being in a big role in itself takes a lot of time, but also gathering all the people who are part of the board to come together and collaborate efficiently, it takes a lot of time and effort,” says his sister, junior Psi Alpha Vice President Marissa Mendigorin.
Though there are numerous challenges when it comes to being SCA President, Coy Mendigorin’s favorite part about being in charge of the role is having the opportunity to interact with the executive board and build closer relationships.
He states, “Being able to build off those relationships and growing stronger connections with both of them kind of changed my philosophy in a lot of ways. It taught me the importance of community.”
Not only has he become an impactful leader for all students at Landstown, but he is also an influential role model for his own sister, Marissa Mendigorin, who was inspired by him to pursue leadership positions in other clubs at Landstown. Next year, especially, she hopes to follow in her brother’s footsteps in becoming the future SCA Vice President.
She states, “I never thought I would have done that without him inspiring me to go for it, despite what others may think.”
Marissa Mendigorin explains that as kids, she viewed her brother as her top role model and her go-to person when times got tough. When it came to needing someone to talk to and wanting a second opinion, Coy was always her number one person to go to.
She states, “My brother and I would always build blanket forts when we were little, and looking back now, the amount of effort he spent planning and taking initiative to construct the forts really reflects how he is now as an effective leader in SCA.”
As Coy Mendigorin finishes his senior year at Landstown High School, his takeaway from SCA is that focusing on yourself is just as essential as maintaining grades.
“SCA taught me that [grades] aren’t the most important thing when it comes to your high school life because an education always will come first, but you also need to prioritize yourself, community, and having fun in high school,” remarks Coy Mendigorin.
Editor’s note 5/6/26: a previous version of this story misidentified Mr. Mendigorin as the Senior Class President when his title is SCA President. This story has been updated to reflect this.
