Spring has sprung at Seattle Prep and as its flowers begin to bloom, so do this its student leaders. It is that time of year again and students were ecstatic to hear the promising speeches of this year’s ASB candidates.
On a sleepy April morning, the whole school gathered in the cramped bleachers to hear from their peers. Nate Weiand ’17 prevailed as ASB President after a quirky, hilarious speech about his experience with the dating app Tinder. His catchy slogan, “swipe right for Nate Weiand” attracted a large amount of support from the student body. The other candidates got the position of ASB Executives after presenting passionate yet humorous speeches. Jeffrey Pelayo ‘17 addressed each class and stated his plan on what he wanted to improve at Prep. And to top off his speech, he surprised everyone by asking Al Bernal ‘17 to Prom. Mikey Lambert ‘17 was not afraid of making fun of himself as he told a story about his youth as a “fat kid.” Lastly, Chinwe Ezeonu ‘17 expressed her dedication to Prep through a basketball story. “The speeches were super funny and I’m really excited for the year ahead!” says Issy De Suduiraut ‘19 excitedly.
From these inspiring ASB speeches came the motivation of other students to run for their own classes. The following week, the junior class met in the Great Room to hear speeches from their class representatives. Each candidate showed their unique abilities as they presented one creative aspect to make the crowd remember their speeches. This included an upbeat rap by Al Bernal ‘17, a hysterical story about his Irish descent by Jack Killalea ‘17, and an embarrassing four-square childhood story by Sarah O’Donnell ‘17. The results were close, but Bernal pulled through as senior class president with Killalea and O’Donnell as senior class executives.
The junior speeches were creative but the sophomore ones were just as entertaining. Sophomore president Joe Stewart ‘18 cracked jokes in a relaxed, confident manner while convincing everyone to vote for him because he owns a hot tub. Hudson Patterson ‘18 used his signature references of pop culture to secure a spot as a class representative. Brennan Holmes ‘18 and Cameron Stockwell ‘18 both tied with the same amount of votes, but after a close run-off election Holmes came out with the win. After the results came out, a few sophomore feminists protested when no female representation was voted into the sophomore leadership. (quote from protester)
The freshmen also underwent a run-off between Carolina Cooper ‘19 and Helen Savage ‘19, but Cooper took the win as executive leaving the final results with Carson Stockwell ‘19 as president and Bea Franklin ‘19 as executive. All told hilarious childhood stories and Cooper even compared the Prep community to a “school of fish.”
Although many of the elections were close, the student body did an excellent job in choosing the best people in charge of the Prep assemblies and activities next year. Overall, the 2016 ASB elections brought together a great group of leaders who guarantee another year of school spirit for all.