Salem Reporter is publishing profiles about one graduating senior from each Salem-Keizer School District high school for its Class of 2026 series. The seniors were selected by their teachers, coaches and advisors for exceptional leadership and perseverance. See the other profiles here.  Weeks be fore the holiday gift drive at Hoover Elementary School, a rainstorm soaked through boxes carrying precious cargo – dozens of plush Squishmallow toys. Fortunately, Isabella Morrow, a senior at Sprague High School, was on the case. Under her thoughtful planning and direction, none of Hoover’s hundreds of students were left out. “I had about 40 squishmallows around my fire that night,” Chris Trammell, a Sprague teacher, said. The next morning, Morrow was at school early, ready to fix the toy’s bags and throw out what couldn’t be saved. “She was just that organized that we were able to pull it off,” Trammell said.  Morrow has been involved in student leadership since her freshman year at Sprague, when she was in Trammell’s leadership training class. She was class president sophomore year, and again in junior year, when she also helped lead a school mentorship program and running events. Then as a senior, she was elected to be Sprague’s Associated Student Body president, representing the entire school. “I think I’ve always wanted to work in this role and be able to serve everyone. Because when you’re class council president, and I noticed it sophomore and junior year … you would go to service projects that ASB put on, but I didn’t necessarily help plan them, and I’m a planner. I like to plan,” Morrow said. This year, she organized a clean-up event with Center 50+ at a mobile home park and helped arrange school pancake breakfasts. On top of her schoolwide leadership, she captained three varsity sports teams: soccer, golf and flag football. She also took Advanced Placement art and a college-level writing class. She’s set to graduate with a 4.0 GPA.Even with a full plate of activities, Morrow said she was excited rather than exhausted. “I love Sprague. Sprague is kind of my second home, and I’m definitely sad to leave it so kind of knowing that at the end of the year, I’m done and I’m not coming back, is definitely something to keep me going and keep me doing everything,” Morrow said. The Hoover gift drive in December, also known as the Joy Project, was Morrow’s favorite day of the year.  As president, she did promotional videos for the drive and spoke about it on the school news. She also oversaw the event’s fundraising, which brought in almost $10,000 – an increase of more than $2,000 from the previous year, according to Trammell. When the day arrived, Sprague students went to Hoover dressed in pajamas. They brought toys, did crafts and read books with the elementary students. “With all the planning that’s gone into it, I get to enjoy the day just like anyone else, which is really precious for me, because I love hanging out with the kids and seeing them get all excited about their gifts and doing all their little crafts,” Morrow said. In addition to her passion for student leadership, Morrow loves working with and teaching younger children. She plans to become an elementary school teacher one day. She developed an interest in that through a peer mentorship program that took her to help out at different local schools. One teacher ended up entrusting her with classroom plans and Morrow got to help run a class on reading. Trammell interjected as Morrow recalled the story and said, “That does not happen, that’s not normal.” Morrow knew she wanted to be a teacher through her experiences working with a “darling” student at Schirle Elementary School, and when she helped a teacher at Sumpter Elementary School judge students’ Christmas stockings. “I got warm fuzzies and then I read a book out loud, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to do this,’” she said. After graduating from Sprague, Morrow will attend the University of Oregon where she is going to major in educational foundations and business administration. She also wants to continue being active in service work and volunteering throughout college. Trammell said he believes Morrow will do just that.  “There’s a light inside of her, and when she is serving other people, it is so incredibly bright,” he said. “And so my prayer for her is just that she continues to stay plugged in and focused on that because that’s when she shines the brightest. That’s my hope.” Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. SIGN UP: Subscribing to Salem Reporter helps sustain in-depth, local reporting that Salem depends on. Invest in your community’s news. Subscribe today. The post CLASS OF 2026: Sprague’s student body president raises the bar for leadership appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less