Student Council Members Run for Office
Voting takes place May 7 and 8 during lunches. Photo courtesy of: http://www.skidmore.edu/vote/
May 3, 2015
With only weeks until the end of another successful school year for student council, members have received the petitions and contracts to run for next year’s officer positions.
While all members, representatives and officers, have an active role in council, officers carry the weight when it comes to leading committees and delegating. During large events planned by council like Homecoming, Kick Cancer Week and King of Hearts, officers will lead committees and take charge of specific jobs.
Student council advisers Kellin McCullough and Tom Laure facilitate the group and rely on the officers to run council.
Laure is excited for another group of students to get involved.
“[We hope for] someone that has good leadership abilities and has strong initiative to be able to kind of have a vision to where they want council to go,” said Laure.
Elections look to be fairly competitive this year in the positions of President and Vice President. Most candidates are experienced members, being upperclassman. Juniors Dan Stifler, Quinlan Kauffman and Jake Smith will be running for President while juniors Maggie Kaliszak and Stephen Rouse will compete for Vice.
Stifler hopes to use the power of the position to enhance school spirit.
“I feel like it would be a good opportunity to help the school increase student spirit because we’re kind of not doing too well with that,” said Stifler. “It’s been a reoccurring problem over the last three years…”
Other positions include: Secretary, Treasurer, Public Relations and School Board Rep. All of these positions are currently running unopposed. Junior Eli Holloway is running for a second year as Secretary, as is junior Matthew Barnhart as Treasurer and Emily Landis as Public Relations. Current sophomore Phillip Karpouzie has confirmed his candidacy for School Board Rep.
Landis enjoyed her first year as Public Relations officer promoting spirit and upcoming events of the school.
“[I am running for Public Relations] because I did it last year(2014-15 school year,) and I felt comfortable doing social media and Instagram…,” said Landis.
Barnhart is proud of the active role his officer position has given him.
“[I want to run for treasurer] because I want to have a larger role in council than just a representative, like I want to be able to organize events…” said Barnhart.
All candidacies are welcomed until Friday, May 1. While candidates have already started campaigning, voting does not begin until May 7 and will only last two days. Students can vote during lunches.
