Students Elect Representatives For Each Class
Student Council Class Representatives for the rising senior and upper classes have been elected for the 2017-2018 school year. The rising lower class will hold a separate runoff election next Tuesday to decide their student representatives. Upper Taylor Walshe will serve as senior class president, with upper Winslow MacDonald serving as vice president and upper Oluwadara (Dara) Okeremi as treasurer. Lowers Michaela Phan, Samantha Resnick and Adrian Venzon will serve as upper class representatives. Seven students have made it to the runoff election for lower representative: Jinwoo Kang, Billy Menken, Eman Noraga, Andrew Sun, Audrey Vanderslice, Charlie Venci and Ryan Xie.
Unlike in previous school years, the voter turnout was inconsistent between classes. The lowest turnout was for the lower class, from which only sixteen percent of students voted. This abnormally low turnout was due to the fact that only three candidates qualified for the election, meaning that the three candidates were essentially secured a position even prior to voting. The upper class had the next highest turnout, with almost 50 percent of the students voting. The prep class had the highest turnout rate, with around 73 percent of the class having voted for their future lower reps.
Walshe was excited about his election victory after previously having served as both the lower and upper representative for his grade. “I thought I may as well continue because the past two years have been really fun,” he said. “It’s been fun for me not only because I get to stay connected with the amazing class of 2018, but it is also great to see other people in the grade unite together, whether it’s wearing the same class gear, playing on the same dodgeball team, catching up after summer break at the new student mixer or even hunting each other down in survivor.”
He said he looks forward to working with his fellow class representatives, noting that he has had two completely different representative combinations over the past two years, both of which were successful. “I have no doubt that Dara, Winslow and I will work well together,” Walshe said.
MacDonald agreed, recalling his experiences of sharing classes with both Walshe and Okeremi. “I've had both Taylor and Dara in class before, and know them both to be hard-working individuals,” he said. “I know that all three of us can work together efficiently to accomplish our goals.”
He added that he wants to ensure his class’s senior year, and time beyond Exeter, is memorable for the entire grade. “Our classmates are what makes Exeter exceptional, and I want the class of 2018 to be as bonded as possible,” he said. “I want to make next year our best year.”
MacDonald hopes to accomplish this by sticking to the goals they proposed during their campaigns. “I hope that I can push for the completion of my campaign promises, as well as Taylor’s and Dara’s,” he said. “I also hope to incorporate new ideas that weren't necessarily on my platform initially.”
Okeremi was also enthusiastic about representing her class. “I am excited to see how the entire class can work together and I really look forward to see what happens,” she said, adding that during her time as treasurer, she hopes to work with her fellow representatives to bring more events and changes for the senior class. “I hope to have more senior class events outside of Exeter like a senior class trip to the beach. I also hope to bring back the possibility of having a mental health day because we didn't really talk about mental health at all this year.”
Walshe was grateful for the community’s support. “Everyone ran a great campaign so it’s unfortunate that only the top three get selected. With that being said, other candidates had some great ideas and I would like to work with them to achieve some of their platforms,” he said. “I’m excited to work with Dara and Winslow and I know we’ll do our best to make it a remarkable and memorable last year for the class of 2018.”
gUpper representatives were decided earlier without any runoffs, as only three candidates qualified for the first round. Venzon explained that it was unfortunate that only three people qualified, but noted that he and his fellow representatives make a good group. “I’m super excited to get to be the class [representative] again,” he said. “It was a lot of work this year but it was very fun and rewarding. I hope to continue to make fun events and do a better job of representing the lowers in StuCo.”
In an unexpected turn of events, the lower representative results were delayed. Out of the thirteen candidates, the seven candidates who received the most votes in the first round of voting were selected for a second round of voting on Friday. The vote margins between the candidates were too close for three clear winners to be declared, so StuCO decided to hold a seven person runoff election.
Venci explained that he ran for lower representative to bring a “fresh perspective for the class of 2020.” Sun said that his goal was to “bring the class of 2020 together.” Due to the unexpected runoff, many of the lower representative candidates will be utilizing the extra time to campaign further. “I plan to continue to put up posters and spread my platform,” Sun said.