Freshmen seek leadership posts
September 15, 2016
Last week, 16 students in the class of 2020 campaigned for positions as class officers. With only five spots available, the freshmen were furiously competing against each other through flyers, posters and speeches. Results were expected to be announced today.
(UPDATE: After the run-off vote held Friday, Jennifer Nie was elected president of the class of 2020. Also announced Wednesday were the winners for vice president, Michael Cheng; social chairperson, Stephanie Shih; secretary, Ryan Lam; and historian, Tom Murickan. Almost 350 freshman voted in the main election with 126 casting ballots in the run-off vote.)
Among the sixteen candidates is Rachael Wang, who campaigned for the president seat by posting flyers and posters around school. In addition, she made handheld signs, and asked her friends to carry them around school or stick them on their backpacks. Her sign said “Do-nut vote for anyone else but Rachael Wang.”
This is not Wang’s first time running for a leadership position. She was class president in the seventh grade and ASB vice president and Leo Club president in the eighth grade at Chaparral Middle School. Wang stated that she believes a president should be kind, responsible and overall a role model to her class. In addition, Benjamin Jones, Jackson Lennon, Jennifer Nie and Rohun Sharma were running for the position.
“I really want to be involved in this school,” Wang said. “Freshmen are usually the shy people and I want to be the one more outgoing as an example.”
Meanwhile, Aria Ting is running for secretary-treasurer with the slogan, “Hey! You look so nice today. Just vote for Aria Ting and stay cute.” During her lunchtime speech, she started off by complimenting everyone, trying to engage with the students. This is Ting’s second attempt running for secretary-treasurer, as she didn’t get elected when she ran for the same position at Chaparral Middle School in the seventh grade. She campaigned by taping flyers on her backpack, walking around school. Ting stated that if she is elected, she will attempt to make changes based on the feedback of the students. Her competition for the post are Stefan Chu and Ryan Lam.
“I have a lot of experience [from ASB] and I learned a lot from that so I feel like I really need to join USB,” Ting said.
Running for historian, Gloria Choi put up flyers around school with the slogan, “If you want your freshmen year to glow, vote for Gloria.” She posted flyers all over the school with one resembling a Coca-Cola ad that said “#shareyourvotes with Gloria.” Choi was previously ASB treasurer in Chaparral Middle School, but thought it would be a fun experience to be historian. She hopes to be involved with the school as much as possible and have her pictures bring freshmen closer together. In addition to Choi, Tom Murickan and Ashley Sim ran for historian.
“I would love to take pictures of the music department and other freshmen engaged with the school,” Choi said.
Among the four students running for social chairperson, Sean Chang decided to run after his teachers recommended he should be part of the student body ever since he was in elementary school. Chang campaigned not only in school, but also on social media with the use of Instagram and Facebook. Although Chang did not create a slogan like the other candidates, he put memes on his flyers to grab the attention of his classmates.
