Every year is a scramble to nominate next year’s student council. This year the Summit student council decided to add another layer, campaigners! Campaigning went on for two days, where candidates could put up posters, post on social media accounts, and give a speech to the school of their intentions for positions like President, spirit coordinator, etc. While it was a good way to put pressure on the student body to get more involved in elections, the actual candidates felt the most pressure out of everybody.

 Going against classmates for a position can become tricky- is there tension between opponents? Do we care that we are running against each other for a council position? These are all questions the students asked themselves as they prepped for voting season.

 Speaking with some of Summit presidency candidates this year, we were able to get a feel of how they were feeling about this new way of elections, 

 Junior Eleni Adams was one of many feeling this. “It’s been stressful, I feel like the campaigning got out of hand very quickly. Although I wanted to spread the word about my run, I felt like all the campaigning took over my social media. Not just from my campaigning but from other people as well,” said Adams.

 To add to this awkwardness, all three presidential candidates were already involved in Stuco this year, so being in such close quarters in a very stressful time made some of the interactions uncomfortable amongst the candidates. However, since they were together all the time, all three candidates had an equal opportunity to hear about changes of information about their campaigning and the voting system. 

 “I feel like the election was really underground last year and I feel like by campaigning the student council was able to pull in more candidates and spread the word that elections were coming up so I think it’s good in that sense, but, I will say it has created unspoken tension at school,” said Adams.

 While it’s not just the pressure of waiting to see what position you get, there’s a huge social aspect of results depending on your social group and the people you associate yourself with. This can have a huge impact on how many votes and how many people can hear and see your ideas.

 Junior Max Himstreet became especially nervous when it came to the social aspect of his campaign. “I think the worst part was the social dynamics. When people were posting each other’s flyers and watching and commenting on my videos I was very nervous about what people thought of me and my ideas and got even more stressed out about what the results of the election might mean,” said Himstreet.

 Even with all the stress and external pressure coming from all around them, all three candidates did such an amazing job campaigning and gathering support for their presidency. They worked hard, and it showed through their good attitudes and constant advertisement of themselves and their beliefs. 

 Junior Geneva Grube said “I had a lot of fun running for president, it was really nerve-racking, speaking in front of the whole school, but it was such a growing and learning experience. I’m super glad I did it.” 

 There’s no better way to look at it, elections bring stress but also plenty of key learning moments for everyone involved. 

 As elections finished up, the final tally brought to a conclusion that Max Himstreet would be the 2023-2024 president. 

 “I think a lot of people agreed with my ideas about my ability to be president so having support from people all around me was such a heartwarming experience,” said Himstreet. While he took the win this year, there was no shortage of love and support for all students running for a council position. 

 The big question remains for next year, will campaigning become the new norm for elections at Summit?