OM’s Biggest Advocate 

Who is Rohan Warrier you ask? Rohan plays a tremendous role in this community, whether he is advocating for our school to be renovated or planning the holiday parade, Rohan is always there to help the community. His years at OM prove that. 

After high school, Rohan is looking forward to hanging out with his friends and using his time to create more experiences and memories. He’s excited about his many internships, including one with Howard County Senator, Katie Fry Hester. When Rohan was in Annapolis serving as a Student Page during the annual Maryland General Assembly, he got to sit next to the Senators and help them with tasks. From getting coffee to getting papers from the printer, Rohan stood out. In his time as a Student Page, he formed a relationship with the Senator and was invited to apply for an internship. 

Rohan’s freshman year of high school, when he was in hybrid learning, he took English with Mrs. Brooks, which set the tone for his high school experience. He was a part of the group of students who designed the outdoor classroom. Mrs. Brooks gave them freedom to explore and be creative. With OMHS alumni, they raised over $20,000 for this project that became a reality! This achievement solidified Rohan’s decision to focus on contributing to the community. In his Sophomore year, Rohan ran for president unopposed, which created for him the feeling of imposter syndrome. He felt like he didn’t know the Oakland Mills community enough. He spent weeks and months asking questions about history, ranging from serious questions to less serious questions such as homecoming decisions. Rohan’s imposter syndrome went away when the massive COVID outbreak happened in December of 2021. Oakland Mills was the first school in Howard County to have this massive outbreak, and Rohan saw the problem and knew he had to do something. So he made a post that read: “We call on HCPSS to secure the well-being of OMHS.” This post reached over five thousand students in the school system and received likes from over a thousand people, but the comment section gave the post validity and meaning. In the comments, many people from schools across the county debated this issue, including people who weren’t feeling safe going to school because of COVID-19, and people who weren’t as affected by it at all. This post brought a lot of attention to the issue. As a result, every week for three weeks after the outbreak, there was free COVID testing in the gym for everyone. In this moment, Rohan felt and did do something for Oakland Mills that mattered and had an impact.

 Being in SGA changed Rohan by teaching him discipline and leadership skills. It taught him how to address issues between people in a mature way. If he had to advise anyone in SGA, he would say, “The first thing in whatever conflict, you need to understand where that person is coming from.” Working to understand people and asking questions will help them not feel attacked, and the issue could be resolved. Rohan says what separates his high school experience from others is SGA takes up a lot of his time. SGA creates work he loves, like fighting for renovations. He didn’t do it in his Senior year because after two years, he wanted to let someone else serve in that role. Rohan also wanted more time to be a “regular high schooler,” focusing on his social life and himself. He got to do the Musical, miss two weeks of school for his Annapolis program, and hang out with friends. He’s grateful he got to experience all the parts of high school he wanted to. Rohan’s advice to everyone is to, “Take the time to understand yourself.” He did this and believes it allowed him to be a calm and level person. It has so many impacts on you, your peers, and everyone you work with.