On Friday, September 29, the freshman elections were held, announcing Brian Epstein as president, Joey Bark as vice president, Timmy Heim as secretary, and Zoe Matsuzaki as treasurer for the class of 2021. This year, there were a total of 14 candidates in the running. That includes four for president, five for vice president, three for secretary and two for treasurer.

As freshmen make the change from middle school to high school, they are quickly realizing the evident differences in class office. This year, class officers may hold jobs of speaking with other class officers or the SGA, unifying their class and encouraging them to participate in school events.

“Middle school [students] didn’t really look at what representatives could do. They just saw if they were cool or not. It’s also a lot more [competitive] in high school,” freshman Callie Metzman said. “I think it’s really cool how students can elect representatives for their grade especially freshman because we are so new to the school.”

Metzman isn’t the only one who’s noticed the changes, freshman Yolita Barreto also agrees that there is a distinct difference between high school and middle school class officers.

“It’s definitely better [than middle school and elementary elections] because there are more people running. I don’t think it’s going to be very fair because some people are probably going to choose their friends and I’m pretty excited to hear what everyone has to say,” Barreto said.  

Since class officers hold such high responsibilities and representation, it’s only natural that students hold high standards for their officers and are picky in the process of selection.

“[I hope] that they will actually do something beneficial for the school,” freshman Kavin Ramesh said.

Barreto agreed with Ramesh, and even offered an example as to how class officers can make this school year a memorable one.

“Responsibility and to see if they’re going to make the school better by helping out or getting involved with school activities and would promote school activities like spirit week. Not a lot of people did spirit week like Old Timers Tuesday or Retro Baller. So I think they should try to get freshman more excited to do the school activities,” Barreto said.

Determined to not let down his class, Epstein and Matsuzaki elaborated on what they plan to do as president and treasurer.

“I plan to work with the other class officers just to fulfill whatever they want to see,” Epstein said.

“[We plan to] raise money for the ninth grade because as ninth graders we don’t have a lot of ninth grade events and I can try and see if we can raise money so we can have more events,” Matsuzaki added.