A Billy of all trades
Wermuth with K’lena Shnack who sits on the International Key Club Board at the State Capital.
TOWAMENCIN – “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it,” North Penn senior Billy Wermuth states as his favorite quote. If you know Billy, you know this fits him well, as he is one of the busiest and most hard working students at North Penn.
Wermuth’s name has been known throughout the school since the moment he stepped in due to his constant involvement to activities and academics. This year, he is SGA president (Student Government Association), and in past years he was treasurer and a student representative. He is the president National Honor Society, a 3rd year MiniThon chair, and a member of key club. He plays the trumpet for the band, wind ensemble (an audition group), and was in symphonic band in 10th and 11th grade. He is also a varsity v
olleyball player and was on the bowling team junior year.
For the district, Wermuth is the student rep finance committee which meets once a month manage the budget. He is also the student rep for the education foundation.
Wermuth speaking at the NHS meeting about upcoming events.
“Education foundation supplies educational grants through any level of education. With these grants teachers are able to start things for students. It is very student driven and it’s nice to see the student representation in the education foundation,” commented Wermuth.
Outside of school, Wermuth continues to keep himself busy with other leadership roles. He is one of seven students in Pennsylvania who sit on the state executive board of PASC (Pennsylvania Association of Student Council). The students are in charge of managing all member schools, and Wermuth chairs the Membership and Resource Committee and the Summer Camp Committee.
Wermuth also sits on the Key Club state executive board where he is one of 20 students in Pennsylvania. He manages 9 Key Clubs, including North Penn’s, and is the ch
Wermuth with Simran Rathod at the PASC Conference.
air of the International Relations Committee.
Billy is one of four students in the nation to sit on the NASSP (National Association of Secondary School Principals) board. NASSP is the parent organization for National Honor Society and Student Council for all of the U.S. Each student rep serves a two year term and travels to D.C. once a month for meetings. This position has opened up many opportunities for Wermuth.
“3 months ago I got to sit on a panel in the Capitol Building and speak to five principals whose schools experienced shootings. We met with state legislators and senators to talk to them about how to improve school safety, it was a really cool experience. I also got to go to the state capitol building and meet with my state senators where we discussed increasing special needs education funding,” explained Wermuth.
Wermuth has also attended a student summit at the capitol building four times previously, and has been named co-chair for this years summit.
“In February, students are going to gather in the capitol building and divide into groups and take real legislation that the general assembly is debating. We come up with our own bills and present them, it’s a great opportunity for students,” said Wermuth.
When Billy has time off from school work in the summer, he loves to travel with his family or on his own. In 2016 he went on a service trip to Japan, and this past summer he went on a service trip to Thailand.
“I got stay on an elephant conservation village. My elephant was named Steve, and I took care of Steve for two weeks. He knew who I was after about a week because I fed him and cleaned up for him. The point of the village was to rehabilitate elephants before they release them to the wild. We spent the second half of the trip at school teaching kindergarten students their ABCs. The kids would run up to us and climb on us and we would play with them, it was so much fun,” remembered Wermuth.
Wermuth will graduate from North Penn this spring having taken 13 AP courses, which have hopefully prepared him for what lies ahead. Wermuth’s next four years will be spent at his dream school, Stanford University.
Wermuth on his service trip in Thailand.
“Now that I’ve been accepted to Stanford, I am feeling relieved and excited to go to California. I’m grateful that a lot of hard work has finally paid off,” he shared.
Wermuth plans to major in public policy, an interdisciplinary major combining government, psychology, and economics. He is not sure where his major will take him after college, but his hard work and motivation will help him be successful wherever he goes.
