With a twist that not a lot saw coming, the class elections are indeed happening this year. The timing for this definitely caught students off guard, mostly because elections usually happen at the end of the school year, rather than the beginning. Winners from last year seem to be more affected than most, since they thought that they would keep their positions for an extra year, due to the switch to online school. Little did they know, elections are still planned and these returning candidates have to compete yet again, for re-election.

   Although it is making its annual appearance, not every part of this year’s class elections will be the same as people are used to. This is expected, however, since everything is now online. One of the things that are staying the same is voting. Last year, students were able to vote for their candidates through Canvas. This way, voting was easy to access, it worked efficiently, and the results were announced quickly. Since it worked so well, it was no surprise that it would be used again. 

   Other than voting, everything else will definitely be different. Ms. Hernandez, sponsor for the class of 2023, was able to elaborate more on what’s different about this year’s class elections. “There are new guidelines we have to follow for everything,” she said. This shows that this is truly a new experience for all candidates, as well as class sponsors.

   One of the responsibilities of the class officers is to plan out events that their students can go to. These events were very valuable, as they were a tremendous help when it came to saving up money for prom. Because of the coronavirus, of course, holding these events are basically impossible. Thus, it was already known that making money this year would be a challenge. This is where the right candidates come in to play. Despite these challenges, the right candidates will step up to it and be creative in finding solutions. 

   Speaking of finding the right candidate, officers from last year already have experience in having to cleverly find ways to get out of a dilemma. Some can assume that they have a tiny advantage over first-time candidates.

   Someone who truly does have the right experience for the class of 2022, is current president Stella Dioguardi. Last year, her second year as president, she was amazing at her position again, holding their class’s second annual bake sale and selling plenty of shirts and jackets. 

   Even with these accomplishments, she is still coming into this year’s election with a strong, yet humble mentality. “I don’t think it will be extremely hard nor easy to win,” she said,”I also seem to think positive and hope for the best and never think I’m automatically going to win.”

   This year’s class elections will be very interesting and competitive, especially since there are more candidates running for the first time. Voting will take place on Thursday, 9/17, and Friday, 9/18, so they have this entire week to campaign, getting as much support as they can.