Nisky Elects New Student Body Officers

by Hilary Htun

An important decision making body at Niskayuna High School is the student council. In fact, for many upperclassmen, the student government elections, traditionally held in conjunction with a spirit rally, are something to look forward to. As former student council President Ben Yao puts it “It’s something that, despite all the remarks about not caring made by students, the school really anticipates. After all, who doesn’t love losing their voice after cheering for their friend in the donut-eating contest?” It’s an event that holds a lot of tradition and importance, and rightfully so. At any school, the students appreciate having their voices heard in terms of the decisions being made about their education, and the student body representatives greatly facilitate these interactions, making decisions for their class after gauging student interest.

While there was, unfortunately, no spirit rally held this year, the elections were, thankfully, still able to be run. The daily announcements recently released the results of the Student Officer Election. After receiving an email on October 24th from senior Selwa Khan, all students had the option to run for President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Historian as long as the following items were submitted:

1. An email to the appropriate Class or Student Congress Advisor indicating which office a student intended to run for.

2. A video recording that introduced the student, the office they were running for, and what they wanted to achieve, accomplish, or help with in serving their classmates for the academic year. The video recordings were to be no more than 2 minutes in length and should have highlighted the positive contributions the candidates would make to their respective class or Student Congress office.

The next steps depended on what office that person ran for. For Class Elections, speeches were played in homeroom from 11/5-11/6, and voting took place from 11/6-11/9. For Student Congress, speeches were given in homeroom from 11/9 to 11/10, with voting taking place from 11/10 to 11/12. Following a speedy counting of the votes collected by the online election ballot, the results are as follows.

Senior class of 2021: President Enana Jacobs, Vice President Joshua Wang, Secretary Carly Dell, and Historian Eliana Klein.

Junior Class of 2022: President Ryana Sarcar, Vice President Laith Chowdhrey, Treasurer Ryce Hazard, Secretary Rachel Huh, and Historian Samantha Cazer.

Sophomore Class of 2023: President Owen Rutnik, Vice President Emily De Soyza, Treasurer Hailey Auster, Secretary Molly Maloney, and Historian Kathleen Weingarten.

Freshman Class of 2024: President Arya Dixit, Vice President Gianna Deso,Treasurer Louis Chicatelli, Secretary Stella Giagni, and Historian Eniola Elefontuyi.

Furthermore, the election results of the Student Congress, a group that represents the entire student body, were also posted. Senior Aidan Graham was elected to the office of President, Junior Jason Gao to the office of Vice President, Junior Liyat Kebbede as Treasurer, Junior Sophia Boler as Secretary, and Juniors Alexandra Gallo and Ava Giagni will serve as Co-Historians.

Commenting on his position and victory, Aidan Graham stated “I thought that Niskayuna had a lot of work to do in order to fix some of the long lasting issues regarding equity, and I wanted to be a part of that resolution process.”

The newly elected Class of 2021 has already partnered up with the Nisky Now program to run a Thanksgiving Food Drive from 11/2-11/20. Each grade (including staff) were encouraged to bring certain food items to help Nisky Families have a good holiday, with different goods being distributed across the grades. This year, Freshmen were asked to provide canned corn and yams, pie fillings were provided by the sophomores, cranberry sauce and gravy from the juniors, and boxed cornbread mix and green beans from the senior class. The staff were requested to provide boxed stuffing and boxed potatoes. Furthermore, the class of 2021 also hosted a senior spirit week from 11/9-11/13 with anyone being able to join regardless of whether they were a full-virtual student or a hybrid learner. Congratulations to all the newly elected officers, and we at the Warrior look forward to seeing your work this year.