Along with many normalities and routines of the school year changed due to COVID-19 and the transition to remote learning, the student election processes have also been altered.
Student Council members and faculty came together to spend time thinking about practical ways to go about student elections for the 2020-2021 school year.
In previous years all student elections took place in the spring, with the exception of the freshmen class: Student Body officers, class officers, class representatives, Student Life Committee, Judicial Board, Disciplinary Board, and Sustainability Board. The decision was made that this year, it would be in the best interest of candidates and the student body to push all elections, other than those for Student Body officers, to the fall; in hopes that routines would be back to normal by then.
Dr. Walker, Head of High School, was a part of the decision making process.
“They really wanted to have a chance for people to give live speeches, and have the chance to campaign in a more traditional way when we’re back together in person as opposed to trying to do it in a remote setting or a remote environment like this one,” Walker said.
Student Body elections, however, were voted to take place in the Spring to accommodate summer plans and officer responsibilities. The leadership retreat, which takes place shortly before the start of school is planned over the summer, primarily by the Student Body Secretary. The retreat is a two day event for sophomores, juniors, and seniors to spend time together and grow in their leadership and organization skills. Although campaigning circumstances are clearly not ideal, it is more important to have leadership continuity over the summer into the school year, and to give time for the new Student Body officers time to prepare, than to have traditional election procedures.
Walker said, “Having elections now ensures that [the leadership retreat] would still happen in some form or fashion in the fall, as opposed to just tabling that entirely. It’s a really good event for our culture around student leadership, so I think that it was really important for them to have something in place.”
The ballots for Student Body officers–President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer–will be open from Mon. May 18, through Thurs. May 21 for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors to cast their votes. Under normal circumstances, candidates would have been asked to receive signatures in support of their campaign from 20 students and three faculty. This is now an unrealistic requirement, and candidates only need to have three written endorsements.
Student body officer candidates are working around challenges to find ways to campaign from home. The inability to talk in person with other students, or use the school hallways as a space to put up posters has been one of the most impactful hardships for candidates. As these methods of campaign are unavailable, some candidates have been leaning more heavily on using social media platforms, such as Instagram, to gain publicity and share ideas.
Neha Saggi ’21, current Junior class Co-President, running for Secretary, said, “[This process has] made it harder to spread the word that we are running… I have been posting about my ideas and qualifications. I’ve also been posting endorsements from people who support my campaign, whether it be fellow candidates or student groups and teams.”
Treasurer candidate and current Sophomore class representative, Ainsley McMillan ’22 also faces the obstacle of figuring out how to communicate without access to face to face conversations. Recognizing the importance of knowledge about candidates for voters, McMillan also uses social media to spread the word, and is continuing to virtually meet new people as much as possible.
“Part of what I wanted to do was meet more people outside of my grade, and connect with the student body. I don’t know many freshmen, and I feel like they should know who they could be voting for,” McMillan said.
Despite the setbacks, faculty and candidates are doing the best that they can to go about the election as smoothly as possible. The whole high school community looks forward to the next time we can meet in person, and have things return to what was known as ‘normal,’ whenever that may be. By then, hopes are that the new Student Body officers will be set in stone, and processes of other student elections will be beginning.
