the 2022-2023 ASB Executive board: The new era of obstacles and success

by Maggie Chu, Reporter (ASB Secretary); Jonah Rand, Editor

School News

While ASB Cabinet elections occurred a month ago, the new members will have a short summer before the beginning of the next school year and its accompanying chaos. The coronavirus pandemic presented a new challenge to the Kamiak ASB. Kamiak was plagued by low school participation in activities as funds ran dry, resulting in a lack of lucrative in-person sales. The 2022-23 ASB cabinet election was the first after the beginning of quarantine, and it allowed Kamiak’s ASB to turn a new leaf in the possibility of an endemic world.

To gain insight into the diverse views of the newly elected Executive Board members, we set out to interview each one of them: David Semeraro, President; Anthony Madson, Vice President; Noah Parker, Treasurer; Rachel Kim, Public Relations Representative; and last but not least, my co-reporter for the article: Gauntlet guest reporter Maggie Chu—next year's ASB Secretary.

Each year, the ASB Executive (Exec.) Board faces numerous obstacles; however, the school seems to be reeling from the effects of the pandemic. With hard decisions on the horizon, each Exec. member pinpointed an issue that has already been a barrier to ASB's success and seems like it will be for at least the short-term future.

Treasurer Parker was excited to tackle the budget panel—where each club presents itself to the Exec. Board, Bookkeeping, Ms. Stengele, and Ms. Fraleigh. However, he raised concerns over the lack of funds in the general ASB budget, a financial issue not foreign to the rising senior class. Parker argued the biggest obstacle was fundraising, claiming some fundraisers did not go as well as expected, which made planning and financing other school events a struggle.

Conversely, Vice President Madison argued that “ASB will face…small turnouts at events; we need to promote them better along with clubs to avoid having a lack of members.”

The two ideas are not mutually exclusive, as much of Kamiak’s funding came through sales at popular events. There appears to be many hard decisions and conversations on ASB’s agenda for the next academic school year. The pandemic was an interrupter to the regular flow of ASB but with a committed cabinet popularly elected they have an optimistic but cautionary outlook on the year to come.

Schoology was a new system to a vast majority of the Kamiak student body, but instead of being a point of frustration, it became one of jubilation to newly elected members when Stengele announced the winner of the ASB general election through a Schoology message. The anticipation was high, and each candidate had varying reactions of excitement when presented with the notification of success. The competition was harsh, pitting highly qualified competitors against each other.

Some sighed with relief and genuine gratitude to win, while others were informed of the disappointing news; nevertheless, it may have come down to a few more minutes of campaigning or better name recognition. Madison responded to our question about his win by saying: “I really was happy because hard work went into my campaign. I am honored to assume the role of VP.”

I turned to my co-writer Maggie Chu, the ASB secretary, for her own reaction to provide some exclusive insight: “I was honestly shocked because my opponents both had such amazing campaigns and were tough competition.”

Kamiak leadership has evolved over the past few decades, hitting very few obstacles to their success, and responding to those obstacles in an organized way. Stengele has built a powerful image for both the work she has put into ASB and her own Advanced Leadership class. Chu expressed optimism about working with Stengele in ASB and being a part of her Advanced Leadership class next year to effect positive change in the Kamiak community. Chu shared elation to be working with Stengele and the new team.

Administration and educators have had to face turbulent events over the past months at Kamiak with issues that used to be few and far between. Students experienced two unexpected fire alarms, the first as a student’s impractical joke, and the second after a student set fire to a boy’s bathroom trash can—eroding both the culture and safety of Kamiak.

Kim, the new Public Relations Representative, stressed the idea that “creating a safe environment at Kamiak takes a team effort,” and, “...everyone should be involved to make Kamiak welcoming.” Parker sought “more accountability” as a tool to combat unintegrous behavior, and emphasized the idea that students should work “to know people at Kamiak.” The tension between the under- and upper-classmen has always been a theme across high schools in America and is not unique to Kamiak. Semeraro, however, advocated for “seniors and juniors take sophomores and freshmen showing them the ropes [sic].”

As summer break approaches and finals wind down, ASB will need to hit the ground running in order to further recover from the pandemic and its effects on Kamiak. Despite the obstacles ahead, the collection of diverse perspectives from the five new members brings hope for a successful upcoming year at Kamiak.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the various authors in this paper do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Kamiak High School or The Gauntlet.