As the 2016-2017 year draws to close, it is time for the seniors to start passing down their officer positions. It is a time for campaign posters to line the hallways and windows and candy bribes to be offered quietly here and there. On April 27, the candidates gave their speeches in Hooper Auditorium for the junior class and some senior spectators where they gave their best effort at explaining to the junior class why they should be voted for. Of the 27 students running for positions, there would be one SGA secretary, SGA vice president, SGA president, class president, class vice president, class secretary, class treasurer and class historian.

SGA officers are in charge of weekly senate meetings and happenings while class officers are in charge of class events, such as Spirit Day Themes, Class T-shirts, the graduation speaker and class meetings. Before the junior candidates gave their speeches, their respective senior officer gave an overview of what they did in their officer position.

In many of the speeches for SGA positions, the candidates stated that they were surprised and inspired MSMS’s active Senate and its contribution to MSMS. SGA Secretaries  promised to keep communication between Senate and the student body. Candidate for SGA Vice President Samuel Patterson said that SGA was all about “listening to the student body” and “having a good relationship with MSMS administration.”  Candidate for SGA President Uriah Jenkins wanted to be the “conduit of change” and be the “voice of the people.”Another SGA President Candidate Jenny Nguyen promised to unite the administration and the student body.

SGA Vice President Candidate Vivian Van gave credit to what SGA had already done, noting the new swing set and the changes to the handbook from bills written this year. Another common theme in a few of the speeches was the desire to actually help the school rather than boost resumes, as was the case in SGA Vice President candidate Braeden Foldenauer’s speech.

The officer speeches came in a wide variety, serious and stern to funny and spontaneous. Instead of saying a speech, SGA President candidate Anna Klae Leland “dropped a beat” and made her promises in the form of a rhyme/rap. Class Secretary candidate Rebecca Chen didn’t even prepare a speech. Instead, she went on a whim to show that she was able to work and think on her feet. Treasurer candidate Mikel Sandifer called himself “Money Mike” and stated that he had a “love of money and less stressful offices.”  Class Vice President candidate Griffin Emerson compared MSMS students to a bunch of golf balls and MSMS to a $4,000 golf club that pushed the MSMS students to their “hole in one.” He also said he had a “steady grip, and I can make some pretty bad posters too.” Class President candidate Mayukh Datta gave a speech about his trials and troubles in coming to the United States and how his parents taught him that to succeed, he needed to have a “sense of service, be determined, and know how to count.”

After the speeches on Tuesday, voting occurred all day on Thursday. However, after some technical difficulties, voting had to be re-done on Monday. In addition, this was the first year that the Borda count voting system was used in class and SGA elections. Instead of each student voting one single candidate for each position, the students ranked each candidate in order of who they felt would be the best candidate, with 1 being their top pick. Here are the results:

SGA Officers:

  President — Jenny Nguyen

  Vice President — Braeden Foldenauer

  Secretary — Claudia Vial
Senior Class Officers:

  President — Mayukh Datta

  Vice President — Griffin Emerson

  Secretary — Ariel Williams

  Treasurer — Andy Zhao

  Historian — Maggie Ford