Incarnate Word Academy was voted State President School at the April 7-9 Texas Association of Student Councils (TASC) annual conference in Irving, Texas. IWA is the first private school in Texas to earn this honor.

More than 3,500 students attended the conference, representing 264 public and private schools in the state. IWA’s campaign platform was “Love is Respect,” and focused on educating and advocating for healthy relationships, not solely romantic relationships, but also with friends and family. A recent Boston University study said that almost half of teenagers report being harassed by a partner and 1 in 3 teens reported to be physically, sexually, or emotionally abused by a partner in a relationship before becoming an adult.

The IWA Student Council created a video which played on big screens while they choreographed a series of glow-in-the-dark words to add impact to their powerful presentation, which included statistics and testimonials from Texas parents who have lost daughters due to violent teen relationships.

In the candidate  sessions, IWA junior Bella Garza said, “Our school cultivates authentic, bold, servant leaders. This means that each one of them looks for the need, and works to create a solution that answers that need.” Twenty students from IWA attended the conference, and each brought authenticity and excitement, listening to students share their stories and offering ideas to improve teen relationships centered on respect. Bella serves as the State President Representative for 2024-2025.

IWA Student Council sponsor and Young Leaders Program Director Antoinette Hernandez said, “My heart is full after this experience. The girls demonstrated IWA Sisterhood in every aspect of the word. They knew that they were out there helping one of their own, representing IWA, and ultimately wanted to bring this back to IWA. There were times when they were tired, put in long hours, made thousands of campaign items, and didn’t think they could push themselves anymore, and yet they empowered each other and knew this was bigger than them.”