Student Council Elections Draw Interest

By MELISSA POLLACK and NEEVA SHAFIIAN

This year’s Student Council elections are drawing more attention than in past years due to recent changes in running mates for the office of co-presidents for 2015-2016 .

In mid-April, current Junior Class President Rishi S. and current Junior Class Vice President Jessica H. announced that they would run for the positions of Student Council Co-presidents together, thereby changing partners and ending their campaigns with their former running mates, Aashna S. and Sarina X. respectively. This caused skepticism among some of the student body. Junior Haley R. expressed her concern, “I feel like there shouldn’t be any drama in student council.” However, according to student council faculty advisor Mrs. Rinaudo such changes are not unusual.  “It is very common for people to change partners, so there was no problem in the submission,” she said.

After Rishi and Jessica announced their plans to run together, Aashna and Sarina decided to drop out of the race. “I was going to run for co-president of the school since I’ve been in Student Council since 8^th grade. This was my last time to run, so it was go big or go home,” Sarina said.

Aashna stated, “Originally, Rishi and I were planning on running for co-presidents of Student Council. Later in the year, Rishi had apprehensions and he had to make a decision on who he wanted to run with. And ultimately he made his decision.”

In response to the running mate changes, Rishi stated, “Undoubtedly, our former partners were amazing and remarkable leaders, so the switch was certainly not something we took lightly. It was a difficult decision to make on our behalves that ultimately took root in how we all worked together in a setting where we are tasked with overcoming hard challenges.”

Opposing candidate Chloe C. who is running with Matthew S.  was surprised by the change. “Throughout the year we all talked about who was running and the partners, so I was actually very shocked when I heard that the partners changed because it was just something I was not expecting,” she said. Matthew was also surprised but feels confident in his and Chloe’s abilities to lead “regardless of the opposition.”

Student Council elections take place this Wednesday through Friday via Edline. Students will be able to cast their ballots for co-presidents as well as all other positions.