The Student Council Association is holding elections for the 2021-2022 school year. They will be voting for five members for their executive board, as well as two representatives for each class. The executive board positions include President, Red Sea Leader, Secretary, Treasurer and Social Media Manager. The President must be a rising senior, the red sea leader must be at least a rising junior and the secretary, treasurer and social media manager candidates can be held by a student in any grade level.
The timeline of elections began on April 21 when positions were available to students. Applications are due by May 7. Candidates are selected on May 10. Voting by the student body will occur the week of May 18-21. Friday, May 21, the election results will be announced. The new members will be sworn in on May 26.
There is one major qualification to run for an SCA office: you must have maintained a C average or at least a 2.0 GPA over the past years of high school. You may be removed from your position if this is not maintained.
Student body president, senior Ashley Iscoa, has experience from running for SCA positions over the past four years.
“I had to really think about why I wanted to [run and] about some goals that I wanted to [form] for myself for the next school year. [I also thought about] what things occurred this year that were great, or things that I wanted to improve. From the perspective of someone who was already in a position, I was Vice President last year and then I ran for President, so [from] a perspective of someone who’s running again for a different position, it’s like, what can I change in the SCA and what can I change with school. I [formed] my goals and then I decided to run. I made sure that my paragraph was very detailed and legit,” Iscoa said.
For class representative sophomore Anish Aradhey, running for an SCA position is all about showcasing what you’re good at and coming up with ways to make HHS a better place for the student body.
“To run for an SCA position, you’ll first need to apply for candidacy. You’ll explain why you believe you are right for the position and share some ideas you have for the student body. In my experience, running for a SCA position is all about showcasing your strengths, your school spirit, and your ideas for making HHS a better place,” Aradhey said.
For the other sophomore class representative, sophomore Jadon Burgess, running for his position was something he was excited to do and ultimately gave him experience in leadership and what it would be like to apply for a real job.
“Running for a position in the SCA, at first, was something I knew I wanted to be a part of at HHS. This year was my second year serving as class representative, for the 2023 class. Running was something that was very exciting for me, and helped give me experience applying for a position similar to that of a job,” Burgess said.
Iscoa rose up from sophomore class representative to Vice President her junior year. She was nervous at first, but is now glad she got to be a part of making her goals come true.
“My sophomore year, I went from sophomore class president to SCA Vice President. I really felt the anxiety and the nervousness and excitement, because it’s hard to put yourself in a position where no one has ever seen you there. I really kind of judged SCA a little bit and I was like, ‘Wait, this is what I saw from the outside perspective of not being in SCA, and here are the improvements I want to make.’ Everything is about making goals included in your paragraph, as well as making sure that your purpose and running doesn’t sound fake,” Iscoa said.
Aradhey has served as representative for the class of 2023 for the last two years. He has enjoyed being so involved in the many activities.
“I served as an SCA class representative for the past two years, so my position is a little more flexible than an SCA executive officer position. Serving as a representative is really whatever you make out of it; you have the opportunity to be involved in a lot of things, like planning school events, pep rallies and fundraisers,” Aradhey said.
Burgess has learned through holding this position that the most important part is being a voice for his class, as well as being available to help answer questions or be at events.
“For me, class representative [means] working with the other people in SCA and fellow students [to] help coordinate events and share ideas. Also, as class rep, it is important to be a voice and available and approachable for people to answer questions and keep everyone informed and connected. Reminding people about events and other opportunities happening at HHS, and trying to work towards whatever goals are set in the school year [have also been key parts for me],” Burgess said.
Because of COVID, members of SCA this year had to adjust to planning all online or safely socially distanced events, instead of everything in-person like normal. Iscoa hopes that by the time the newly elected officers begin to be involved, they can plan more fun in-person events.
“The positions are different from last year because this year we had to do more virtual things. [SCA this year is] kind of really behind the scenes. I’m sure people think we’re not doing anything, but we do meet every Wednesday [to] speak about a lot of in person events that are hopefully going to happen this school year,” Iscoa said. The decisions have changed in the aspect that there aren’t as many in-person events, but hopefully by the next school year you guys will be in person, so people will be expecting way more fun things to occur from SCA compared to this year.”
The SCA modified the position’s jobs to be able to conform with COVID protocols and primarily virtual events this year.
“The SCA has modified the roles of representatives to make them more involved. For example, all representatives will be more involved with the Red Sea at HHS, and sophomore representatives (my position this year) will be more responsible for building school spirit and getting their peers involved with activities and sports,” Aradhey said.
Burgess thinks that the SCA having to adjust to virtual events will actually help them be more useful and creative next year when they are able to hold in person events once again.
“Last year, although we were able to have some of our events early on in the school year, COVID came in the spring and caused us to undergo a change in the way in which we had to [plan events]. Despite it being challenging at first, we have been able to get better at holding virtual events such as spirit week, electives fair, and being able to make videos for tours and other things that would normally be done face to face. As we’ve continued through the school year, we’ve found new ways to do things and learned more about the virtual world and now I think having it as we try to progress back and have different events it is going to help us be better and become useful,” Burgess said.
For more information on elections and responsibilities, reference this document and video provided by the SCA.