Student government candidates reflect on campaigns

By Krystal Lau,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

Running for student government isn’t just for the officer position; candidates say that they enjoy the process and experience as well.

Senior Class presidential candidate junior Sarah Zaragoza-Smith recalls being pleasantly surprised at the initial process. In order to run, contestants need to get 50 signatures from students who will consider voting for the contestant. Zaragoza-Smith was able to reconnect with old friends through this experience.

“I went up to a table of Emerson people and before I even finished talking they enthusiastically signed it,” Zaragoza-Smith said.

Although this year she was not involved in student government, Zaragoza-Smith got the idea to join after working on the junior class float with other student government members. Her hard work and dedication to float building caused her to be noticed by some of her fellow students.

“When I was making the junior class float, someone who was in charge of float building came up to me and said, ‘You know, you do more for student government than a lot of the student government kids do, so you should really consider being a part of the class,’ ” Zaragoza Smith said. “Personally, when I do something, I don’t like doing something halfway, I like going all the way. So if I want to try to be a part of the class, I want to try to be class president too.”

One of her ideas is to spread school spirit equally across all school activities, not just athletics. She hopes to have a spirit week for not only Break the Record Night in basketball, but also for robotics tournaments.

“I think I want to make DHS spirit more focused on all aspects of what students do on campus, rather than having spirit for athletics,” Zaragoza-Smith said. “Supporting the bands, the choir and the student plays, rather than just the athletics. Everyone I know has been really supportive.”

Junior Elsa Iverson appreciates all her friends for their support and help in her campaign for Senior Class President.

“[…] I have a lot of really great friends to help me this past week; I’ve had friends coming over making posters. For my [speech] I wanted to be kind of casual and funny because that’s what most people like. Yesterday ten people came over to help make shirts; it’s a lot of teamwork and it’s nice to have all that support,” Iverson said.

Iverson chose to run for president because she wants to make a difference in the school.

“Even though student government doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, it still is really empowering. I really want to make that difference for my peers and for the senior class,” Iverson said

“I think I could do a good job and I have a lot of ideas, so I just want to be able to carry them out,” .

Junior Isolde Pierce was inspired to run for ASB Vice President by current officeholders.

“I really looked up to Tina [Simpson], who is the current ASB Vice President, and I have always wanted to have an important position in student government. I thought that [ASB Vice President] was a good one because I love Teddy [Knox]; he’s already the president and I thought we work really well together,” Pierce said.

The speech during the election assembly was the most difficult part of Pierce’s campaign.

“It’s nerve-wracking going in front of that many people, so I made sure I was prepared. I memorized my speech so I made sure I was comfortable with it,” Pierce said.

Pierce has also campaigned hard.

“I have a few posters up that say ‘Be fierce and vote Isolde Pierce.’ I think it’s mainly about connecting with different groups of people so they feel like they should vote for you,” she said.

One of Pierce’s goals if she is elected is to involve more people in school activities. She hopes to make every student feel welcome, regardless of what friend group they are in.

“My ideas are to incorporate more groups of people because I think that at certain games and rallies, people that participate at half-time for example are in the same clique or group. I want to really make it so that each person at this high school feels like they have a story to tell at Davis High School, so they feel like they’re involved in the activities,” Pierce said.