New Student Government Looks to Overcome Distancing During Remote Year
Through Zoom, the student government discusses topics ranging from virtual festivals to community contests. Image: Vannessa Wong
By FARIHA AHMED and CIERRA VIALVA
While the nation awaits November 3’s presidential election, Midwood’s students voted in virtual student government elections on Friday, September 25. Candidates and supporters received the results the very next day from student election coordinator and COSA Lawrence Kolotkin.
Representing the student body for 2020-2021 is an all-female team that includes Mayor Olsmael Merisier, a senior; Senior President Vannessa Wong and Vice President Nimra Khan; Junior President Owaish Khan and Vice President Katherine Zhong; Sophomore President Alexandra Moore and Vice President Elia Gorelik; Freshman President Aliye Gursoy and Vice President Joanne Zhu; and Comptroller Nafisa Haque, a junior.
Representatives celebrated their victory but acknowledged the major commitment they have placed upon themselves.
“When I first found out I won, I was happy and nervous at the same time,” Gursoy said. “I not only have a huge responsibility for myself, but now I also have responsibility over my fellow classmates.”
Incoming freshman Gursoy, despite lacking in experience, intends to contribute as much as she can toward developing the Midwood community. “I plan to give as much attention to my new position in student government as I do with my academics,” Gursoy said. “I understand something must be given, so I will give up a part of my social life. After all, when we improve as a community, inevitably we improve as individuals too.”
The newly inaugurated members are already developing plans to form a more united Midwood, where students can come together in spite of the physical separation of virtual learning.
“This pandemic, I’m sure, has made many students feel isolated,” Moore said. “I want to combat that isolated feeling with the help of the student government by creating new activities that can help students have fun, do well in their classes, learn about each other, and most of all be there for each other.”
Of all students, incoming freshmen may currently feel the most excluded, so the student government has marked them as a primary focus.
“The biggest challenge right now is maintaining school spirit, especially among the freshmen who don’t feel like they are a part of school yet,” Merisier said. “We are all striving to make everyone feels included and represented.”
Merisier’s run for mayor seemed inevitable, as she had already represented students for the previous two years. Merisier keeps herself busy as a frequent volunteer, working at soup kitchens and participating in Key Club.
“She worked closely with Tanisa [Rahman, last year's mayor], and knows exactly what she wants to see for this school year,” said her opposing mayoral candidate, senior Rafaele DiMaggio, after the election. “I have full confidence in her ability to create the same Midwood experience that I envisioned.”
Despite foreseeing difficulties dealing with both academic and governmental duties, representatives continue to remain positive.
“I’ve always been a very organized and driven girl, so I believe I can do whatever I put my mind to,” Moore said. “Sure, it's going to get overwhelming and be a lot of work, and it’s going to be a lot of new experiences and challenges. But at the end of the day, I have a job, as a student and as the sophomore president, and I intend to do both to my full potential.”
Along with Merisier and Zhong, Wong is also a returning member of the government. Although there was no competition against her and “you kind of had to choose me,” she said, “which I felt bad for,” she dedicated herself to constructing a well-developed campaign.
Vannessa Wong’s quirky and relatable campaign animation helped her stand out.
Wong’s campaign was uniquely composed of graphic designs and animations, which were driven by her aspirations of becoming an animator. “I made an animation about what I did last year, the struggles I had from it, and how I’m going to use those struggles and experiences for this year,” Wong said. “I didn’t just want a poster; I wanted to make sure that my campaign had a lot of my style.”
Campaigning in general was more difficult for the candidates, but social media eased the process.
“I was very nervous about campaigning because during in-person school, I used to say in the beginning of my classes to vote for me,” Owaish Khan said. “However, with remote learning, I had to reach out to my friends and ask them to post for me on social media as well.”
Along with the campaigns and elections, the speeches were all online. The process involved candidates reading their speeches live with supervision from Mr. Kolotkin and Principal Michael McDonnell on Microsoft Teams, a week before the election. Despite feedback issues, muted students, and the absence of webcams, candidates displayed unity to ensure the meeting went as smoothly as possible.
“It was very hard to adjust to having a virtual election,” Nimra Khan said. “There were so many technical issues, including candidates' speeches being cut off because of internet connections, but even so we got through it and turned a difficult situation into something relatively good.”
When election day rolled around, a Google form for voting was emailed out early and was to be closed at 4 p.m. Students had all morning to finalize their votes for who they wanted to represent them out of the 40 candidates.
“We had a historic election, the most votes ever cast in recent history,” Mr. Kolotkin prefaced in the email with the results. “Most of these positions were determined by just a few votes. It just shows how important each vote is in an election.” The elections may remain online from now on, to encourage similar voter turnout in the future.
Although the other candidates faced losses, they still kept their Midwood spirit and cheered on their classmates.
“I'm glad that my opponent won; I'm fully confident in her abilities,” said senior Tallat Cheema, who ran against Khan. “She has more experience, and that made her an excellent candidate to be president. She already knows the efforts and hardships that must be put in, so I respect her and her future choices.”
Students are already rooting for the student body government. Seniors are especially eager to see what new ideas appear to make their last high school year as enjoyable as it can be.
“I can’t wait to see the new changes that get implemented,” Noelle Dumont said, “especially because I’m a senior and I can’t enjoy all the usual senior activities. I’m intrigued by how they will try to [accommodate] all the students in the school and make senior year memorable.”
With the elections finalized, the new council members are prepared to fully back the student body, emphasizing positivity and staying connected.
“Regardless of being in school or not, you can always still keep your hornet spirit!” Owaish Khan beamed.
Working together, the government hopes to effectively represent the student body during this unprecedented time.
“Because of Covid, we’re limited in the things we can do,” Zhong said, “but our focus right now is to make sure that the student body is still active within the school community. Especially during a time like this, we want the student body to know that we’re here for them!”