By MADDIE BOLIOLI and NICK GODEK 10/12/20
This past week, a few very exciting elections were held in Student Faculty Congress or SFC. SFC elected the members of our executive committee, the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, sergeant at arms, and head of the Acceptance Committee. These are very important roles that dictate how Congress will be run for the whole year and the influence SFC will have on the student body.
WHO IS IN SFC?
You may recall elections in the fall where you voted for your SFC members as well as your class officers. As a reminder:
Representatives: The Student-Faculty Congress Representative seats were elected on October 12, 2020. Each grade elects 5 representatives and 1 president, making a total of 6 representatives per grade. But after the election, if students are still interested in being in Student-Faculty Congress, they can apply for the At-Large positions, which gives a seat in Student-Faculty Congress to the student(s) who applied.
The 12th Grade Representatives this school year are Tessa Barbeau, Matthew Byfield, Lyndsey DeLasho, Maya Gardos, Camilla Giorcelli, Forrest Greece, Thomas Quartuccio, Anneka Rust, Alex Villeneuve, and Edie von Sauer. Representing The Juniors on Student-Faculty Congress are Emma Castro, Shoshana Daly, Emily Grunes, Sofia Meyer, Jaime Pollak, Frederick Stok, and Phoebe Turner. 10th Graders representing their class in Congress this year are Madelyn Boglioli, John Erskine, Nicholas Godek, Molly Levitt, Noah Samuels, and Carly Quartuccio, and Hudson Villeneuve. This year’s elected 9th Grade Representatives are Stephen Castilla, Juliet Skrelja, Samantha Sparling, Liam Stapleton, Jack Ter Boss, and Palmer Wentworth.
Class Officers: The elections for class officers were held the same day as the Congress’ elections. A common misconception is that every class officer is guaranteed a seat in Congress, but only the class president truly is. The class officers usually work as a team to benefit their class.
The Class Officers elected this year for the Senior Class are as follows, Thomas Quartuccio as the President, Matt Byfield as the Vice President, Maya Gardos as the Treasurer, and Anneka Rust as the Secretary. For the Junior Class, the Class officers are Jaimie Pollack as the President, Nate Bilgoray as the Vice President, Marty Andrews as the Treasurer, and Emily Grunes as the Secretary. The Sophomores elected Hudson Villeneuve as their President, Molly Levitt as their Vice President, Noah Samuels as their Treasurer, and Carly Quartuccio as their Secretary. The Freshmen Class officers are Juliet Skrelja as the President, Palmer Wentworth as the Vice President, Stephen Castilla as the Treasurer, and Leire Chacha as the Secretary.
WHAT WERE THE ELECTIONS ON WEDNESDAY 12/2/20 FOR?
On December 2nd, SFC held in-house elections for the executive committee positions. The executive committee is responsible for a variety of aspects of SFC, most importantly running our meetings. In order to be elected for any of these positions, you had to first be nominated by a member of Congress, which then had to be seconded by another member. Then, you had to accept the nomination and make a speech. After everyone’s speeches were heard the candidates left the meeting and the Congress discussed the candidates before voting. Here are the results:
President - Maya Gardos: The first position up for grabs was the president of SFC. The president runs the meeting, decides topics of discussion, and is the overall leader. The president must be a senior with at least one year of experience in Congress (the year of experience can be any time over their high school years). This year there was only one nominee for president: Maya Gardos. Maya has served on SFC since freshman year and was vice president last year. According to Maya’s speech she hopes to provide a positive learning environment for everyone. We can’t wait to see what she has in store this year!
Vice President - Anneka Rust: The second position up for grabs was the vice president. They lead the meeting when the president is unable to attend and they serve on the building planning committee. The vice president can be anyone in Congress with at least one year of experience. This year there was only one nominee: Anneka Rust. Anneka has served on SFC since freshman year and hopes to revamp the committees of SFC to make them more focused on benefiting the student body. Good luck to Anneka as she steps into the vice president position this year!
Secretary - Emily Grunes: The third position available was secretary. The secretary’s primary job is to take the minutes for every meeting as a reference for future meetings and to allow the whole student body to know the decisions made by Congress. The secretary can be anyone in Congress, no prior experience is needed. Emily understands the importance of transparency and organization when it comes to SFC and hopes to distribute the minutes to a wider audience so every student can know what is happening in Congress. Congratulations to Emily as she assumes this position!
Treasurer - Camilla Giorcelli: Another position open for election was treasurer. The treasurer's main job is to help with fundraising. This year the treasurer has to be especially creative in order to come up with a fundraising plan that is COVID safe. The treasurer can be anyone in Congress with no prior experience needed. The position of treasurer was hotly contested this year, nominees included Forest Greece, Sofia Meyer, and Camilla Giorcelli. Camilla ended up winning the position with her variety of creating fundraising ideas. We can’t wait for her to show her fundraising talents!
Sergeant at Arms - Lyndsey DeLasho: One of the most competitive elections this year was for the position of sergeant at arms. This position runs the speakers’ list of the meeting. They control who speaks, when they speak, and how long each topic is discussed. They keep the meeting running smoothly. The sergeant at arms can be anyone in Congress, no experience needed. Nominees for this position included: Phoebe Turner; Edie von Sauer, and Lyndsey DeLasho. Lyndsey won this election after she reminded everyone of her many years of experience in Congress, as well as her promises to keep the meeting running smoothly and let everyone’s voices be heard. Congratulations to Lyndsey.
Acceptance Committee Head - Alex Villeneuve: The final position on the executive committee available was the head of the acceptance committee. They are the leader of the acceptance committee which is Congress’s only permanent committee. Every year the committee picks a few issues to tackle to make the school a better place. The acceptance committee head can be anyone in Congress with at least one year of experience. This year the two nominations for this position were Nicholas Godek and Alex Villeneuve. Alex won over Congress with his experience of being acceptance committee head last year as well as his hope to make every voice heard and accepted. We can’t wait to see how Alex will improve our school this year!
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We look forward to seeing the positive impacts this year’s executive committee will have on our school! Congratulations to Maya Gardos, Anneka Rust, Emily Grunes, Camilla Giorcelli, Lyndsey DeLasho, and Alex Villeneuve!