Campaigning for Council
Student Council member campaign for officer positions for next year.
Photo by MaryAnn Johnson
It’s that time of the year again- the colorful assortment of posters stuck on the walls of the cafeteria, the subtle shoutouts on social media and email inboxes littered with emails from StuCo advisor Erin Ramsey.
It’s StuCo election season. Every spring, StuCo members have the opportunity to run for class officer positions. Each class has a president, vice president and secretary. StuCo members can also apply to be various representatives, which are determined by an interview process.
In addition to those positions, an executive president, vice president, secretary and historian are elected. “StuCo allows the student body to choose representatives from their peers,” Ramsey said. “When people are choosing who they want to elect, they should choose somebody who has ideas that are similar to theirs.”
Junior Jeffrey Taylor is running for executive president, who is responsible for running the meetings and organizing activities StuCo participates in throughout the year. Being junior class president this year, his responsibilities would change greatly by obtaining the title of executive president.
“If I were to get the executive position, that’s where I get the more holistic approach to Council,” Taylor said. “I would be the one running the meetings and standing in front of the club, making the powerpoints and informing the members on what they should be doing.”
Sophomore class president Mily Talati, also running unopposed, is campaigning for junior class president by making posters and creating a campaign video.
“I think the most important part about campaigning is putting your best effort towards it and actually wanting it,” Talati said. “People will be able to tell if you don’t actually want the position, so always stay positive about it and about the other candidates.”
While the freshmen don’t have officers, freshmen do have the chance to serve as council members their first year. Freshman Paige Magera is taking a different approach to campaigning by using the power of social media and comedy.
“I believe the most effective way to campaign is through Instagram and Snapchat,” Magera said. “Almost everyone is on social media, so the news can be spread fast.”
Although students vary in their campaign techniques, all agree on the importance of being true to yourself.
“In high school you feel like you are behind some wall, but you are really quite transparent, and there is no better person to see that than your peers,” Taylor said. “Full transparency and being yourself is key, and that is what will get you elected.”
