Class of 2022 proved to be a competitive class, as this year’s freshman officer elections resulted in runoffs for all of the positions. The elections concluded with Akash George winning for class  president, Hanna Kim as vice president, Ashley Chang as secretary and treasurer, Carissa Wu as social chairperson and Alan Zhang as historian.

Through his new role, George said he hopes he can make his classmates proud to be in the class of 2022, a goal that he emphasized in his campaign speech.

“I tried to make a good impression on the day we made the speech. I tied to address professionally that I’ll take this job seriously and it won’t be a joke to me. I want my classmates to have a sense of class pride and always remember high school for the rest of their lives,” George said.

Newly elected Vice President Kim depended on help from her friends and family to campaign and stay motivated throughout the election process. According to Kim, her mom kept her motivated and her friends helped her come up with ways to convince others to vote for her.

“My friends helped post a lot on social media, and my friend’s sister who’s in USB helped with the poster making. They helped with flyer ideas and making pens with flags on them,” Kim said.

Chang’s goals as secretary and treasurer are to manage the class funds and help her class spend wisely. She advertised her goals and campaign by using flyers and pins to spread the word to vote for her.

“It was really cool seeing a lot of people wearing my pins, and people saying that they were going to vote for me. Competing against someone who is really talented helped to motivate me during this competition,” Chang said.

Social chairperson Wu said she is excited about all of her new responsibilities. Wu now must attend all IOC meetings, send in activity requests and—her favorite job—make posters.

“I was really nervous throughout this entire process, but if I didn’t try there would be no point in running but if I did do it to the best of my ability it would be worth it,” Wu said.

All of the officers used social media as a platform to advertise their campaign through digital flyers, posting about their stories and having friends post on their accounts as well. To convince his peers that he was qualified for the role, Zhang made a short video that relayed his skills as a photographer and videographer.

“I’ve been messing with cameras for four years and I fly drones, which is basically photography in the air. I made a video in instagram and it kind of went viral. I’ve been editing for three years and I see my advantage there rather than making posters,” Zhang said.

Currently all of the officers are focused on homecoming, painting posters for the event.