It’s that time of year again at Erie High School where election day for the 2023-2024 school year is here. There are seven positions to run for, student body president, student body vice president, senior, junior, and sophomore president, secretary and social media manager. Across all of these positions there are 22 candidates running for 2023-2024 school year.

In line for student body president is Junior Mia Martinez, Junior Tarik Hansson, and Freshman Jude Miller. This is Martinez’s third year in student government after being a Freshman Representative in the 2020-2021 school year, the sophomore class president in the 2021-2022 school year, and the current student body vice president. This is Miller’s and Hansson’s first year of running for student body president, though Hansson did run for junior class president last year and ultimately lost. 

Candidates for vice president include Junior, Dax Bradshaw, Junior, Brayden Haan, and Freshman Christian Edwards. Bradshaw ran for student body president last year, but lost to our current student body president, Emily Frech. Along with Edwards, this is Haan’s first year running for any position in student government.

For the senior class president position, the candidates are: Juniors Oliver Nguyen and Cal Torres. Nguyen is the current junior class president, he comments, “I think that in my first semester as a junior class president I couldn’t get much done…and I feel like I missed a whole semester that I should try to get back.”

Running for junior class president there are Sophomores Addison Fernandez, Noah Clouse, and Carson Hageman. This year  is Fernandez’s and Clouse’s first years running for anything, but Hageman has been in the student government class since freshman year. 

For sophomore class president, the candidates are Freshmen Lincoln Hageman, Emily Park, Wyatt Ball, Mikey Van Hemelryck and Tori Hoppis. As freshmen, they are all enthusiastic to start off their sophomore year with a lot of school spirit. 

Lastly, running for the secretary position is Kennedy Gorske, Ian McGuire, and Claire Rowberry. This year, the student government has added a new position, Social Media Manager. The candidates include Melanie Bell, Madi Jones, and Emma Bryan. This is Bell’s second year in stugo, she mentions, “from the past 2 years of being in stugo I’ve run the social media accounts and because it’s a new position, I thought it would be cool to get my name out there.” 

Throughout the beginning of the second semester, candidates for the class presidents and student body and vice president roles have participated in debates in the auditorium during Advisory. In these debates, candidates displayed what they plan to do in their roles and how they can be more effective in these positions compared to their competition. After the debates the candidates campaigned around the school. They put up posters around campus, and they passed out stickers and other promotional materials to help sway the students’ votes.

Election day is today, Wednesday March 15th. Polls will be open today from 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM in the Junior/Senior lounge.