September is an especially important month for the class of 2028, as the first-year high school students work to settle into their new environment. One thing freshman do to integrate into FM High School is elect four students to represent them. Freshman elections occurred in mid-September, where students ran for four different positions: president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer.
The decision to run for student council is a massive commitment. The hopeful students spent weeks campaigning. They collected signatures, made posters, and edited videos for the freshman class to see. The competition was steep— around twenty to thirty students ran.
Finally, near the end of September, it was time to vote. The results were announced at the end of the school day, shortly before the 2:06 bell, and the candidates waited with bated breath. Some people were very happy with the results, such as newly elected President John-Henry Davies, Vice President Catie Edwards, Secretary Liza Banashkevich, and Treasurer Jordan Beasley.
But campaigning was the easy part. The new secretary Liza said, “Being part of student council is a big responsibility… a lot of planning and problem solving goes into events.” For example, their first important task was designing the freshman Homecoming float. At the Homecoming game, student classes parade around the track with their respective floats during half-time to show their spirit and support. Freshman student officers arranged the time and place to paint the float at Liza’s house and posted about it, encouraging freshmen to come and help. The school gave them a budget for the paint and an old poster board, still covered by the last design, to paint over. The theme for the freshman class of 2028 was Classic Disney. Students really did show up to help, and Liza provided pizza and soda. By the end of the day, the float looked amazing except the officers forgot one thing: A stand for the float. The freshman officers arrived at the homecoming game and were told they needed a decorated stand to put the painted poster board, hence making a float. And they did not have one. “…We realized that we were supposed to build a stand. Luckily, we quickly problem solved and figured everything out,” said Liza.
The student council tries to meet once or twice per week to talk about future events, such as fundraising, the recent Homecoming dance, and more (possibly even a Freshman Semi-Formal, according to vice president Catie Edwards). Being part of student council requires working collaboratively. It’s a very friendly atmosphere, and they work as a team, even through setbacks and disagreements. “We compromise and resolve any issue so there are no long-term effects for small incidents,” Liza said.
The four on the freshman student council are entirely new to this. They’re still learning, getting their feet wet. “When you are in a group that’s brand new, it’s a great way to learn how to overcome that sort of barrier,” said the freshman vice president. It is only October, and the student council has a long way to go, but the class of 2028 is in good hands this year.
