By J1 reporter Mackenzie Kilton

Every fall at Marian, freshman elections take place and arouse a great amount of excitement throughout the school, this year was no different.

Student Board organizes many of the school wide events at Marian, including freshman elections. On Nov. 17, six Class Officers and three Student Board members were announced to lead the Class of 2021 for the rest of the school year.

In order to achieve the position of a Class Officer or Student Board Member, the candidates had to first sign up in the Student Services Office, and then create an election poster to hang in the freshman locker areas. Candidates were also required to answer a series of questions that would be included in the voter’s guide.

The candidates then chose a question that they would answer at the freshman election panel that took place on Nov. 14. Each candidate was given 30-40 seconds to respond to the question of their choice. Students in the Class of 2021 were then able to vote online for the candidates of their choice. Once voting closed, the results were tallied and all candidates received an email stating whether they had been elected or not. The students elected will serve through the end of the school year and the elections for the following year will take place in May of 2018.

Class Officers consist of a group of students that is elected within the class in order to serve all of the needs of their class. Class Officers are responsible for class activities, meetings and any other class projects such as Field Day. In the Class of 2021, there were 17 candidates and the six Class Officers that were elected include Carmie Bazis, Callie Cavanaugh, Katie Corpuz, Emma Gunn, Liza Heim, and Lexington Olsen. These freshman Class Officers are moderated by science teacher, Mrs. Linda Brock. 

Freshman Student Board members are elected the same way. The members work to unify the entire school by playing an active role in the activities and programs. All of the clubs at Marian are moderated and approved by Student Board. Out of the 13 candidates for Student Board, Kori Bullard, Quinn Findley, and Amelia Zimmerman will be representing the Class of 2021. Student Board is moderated by Mrs. Mary Steiner, Student Office Manager, and Ms. Jessica Abel, math tutor and basketball coach..

Bazis, one of the recently elected Class Officers for the class of 2021 said, “I was actually very nervous so I didn’t prepare as much as I should have, but I was thinking of speeches and then I wrote little phrases on a piece of paper and went from there.” In her opinion, the most exciting part of elections was the posters that were created by all of the candidates.

Bazis also said that as a Class Officer, she is most excited for Field Week. Already looking ahead to April, she is interested in being a leader on Walls Committee. Although there are many reasons to be involved in Student Government at Marian, Bazis said that she wanted to be a class officer in order to make a difference in the Class of 2021. Above all, Bazis said, “I showed that their input was already valued before I was elected.”