Following last week’s election, the Palo Alto High School Associated Student Body announced two new class officers, freshman David Wu as president and freshman Kiara Yoon as vice president for the Class of 2026. 

Wu and Yoon were elected from 11 freshmen candidates, according to ASB Senior President Ashley Hung. 

Following their first few days on campus, both Yoon and Wu said they wanted to be involved in ASB in any way they could. According to Wu, their campaign goals centered on helping freshmen become more involved in the Paly community. 

“I want to organize activities for the student body and also help make the transition to high school as fun as possible,” Wu said. “We’re all new to the school and organizing some fun activities might be helpful.”

More specifically, Wu plans to encourage a greater bond among the freshmen class and Paly students by proposing new group activities during PRIME, the weekly flexible study period in which students choose where they would like to spend their time.

“I’ll have students submit proposals for potential activities, kind of like a one-time club, and then ASB will review them and select a few that students can sign up for during PRIME,” Wu said. “Then it can increase interaction between students in different grades.”  

Not only do the officers want freshmen to feel more comfortable on campus, but they also want every Paly student to feel more involved with the decisions made by ASB, according to Yoon. 

“I want to have boxes around the school for people to drop in what they think could be improved about Paly,” Yoon said. 

Increasing the student body’s involvement in campus decisions also coincides with Wu’s aim to become an approachable representative for all students. 

“My biggest responsibility is to be a face that people can talk to with ideas or anything that they think should be improved, ” Wu said. 

Starting this week the two will begin their roles in ASB as the freshmen class representatives, which included organizing their plans for Spirit Week — something Wu said is their biggest responsibility so far. 

“This is our first Spirit Week, and we really want to familiarize people with it and make them feel included,” Wu said. “We want to hype it up as much as possible.” 

Yoon followed by emphasizing her and Wu’s final objective for the Class of 2026’s first year at Paly, and according to Yoon, the reason why she ran for office. 

“We want to make ninth grade as cool as possible with stuff like spirit week,” Yoon said. “Since you’re only going to be in ninth grade once in your life, people should have a say in what they’re doing.”