It’s spring, and the sun has finally begun to warm stagnant air on the quad. Between Paly students and summer stand two things: final exams and ASB elections. The ASB candidates’ posters have adorned the school for a week now, and be they witty or serious, most of them lack one thing — an actual platform description. While the candidates have been busy suggesting that voting for them is “good”, many have neglected to state why, in terms more specific than inspirational adjectives. To allow students to make a more informed decision at the polls, I decided to interview the Junior Class vice presidential candidates. Here is what they said:
Claire Marchon
“When it comes to things I am really passionate about, I just put 110 percent in,” candidate Claire Marchon said. “I am willing to sacrifice other classes [in school] … to make the Junior Class a priority.”
Marchon wants to improve Paly in the same way that many other candidates do: increased communication. But her plan to share information is slightly more detailed than those of other candidates.
To make student-teacher communication stronger, she would suggest the implementation of an after-school collaboration session similar to Jordan Middle School’s Team time. “I would encourage students to go talk to their teachers after school,” Marchon said.
In terms of experience, Marchon is a student government veteran. “In Duveneck I was a student rep from kindergarten through 5th grade,” she said.
Marchon plans to increase the use of the Class of ’13’s Facebook page as part of her vision to spread information. “Constant update reminders on the Facebook page [are important],” she said.
On the subject of breathalyzing at dances, Marchon makes her point clear. “It definitely lowered the attendance. … Now that we’ve applied it, we can’t take it away,” she said. “Students feel that their privacy is being invaded. If we perhaps randomized it, it would be better.”
To better her class’ spirit, Marchon plans to get her peers more involved in important Spirit Week decisions. “We need a good theme … if we have a theme no one would like, no one will show up,” she said. Marchon plans to come up with a better theme by “telling everyone to go to the meetings where the theme is decided.”
She believes that she will be able to effectively represent the student body because she sees eye-to-eye with most students on important matters. “As a person myself, I am a good average of the school. … I have the opinion of the majority,” she said. That being said, Marchon believes that in the instance that she and the students would have a difference of opinion, she would make sure they were fully informed, and then she would hope they understood where she was coming from. However, for trivial decisions, Marchon believes that representing the students is most important.
Jake Kerman
The only boy in the race, Jake Kerman certainly contrasts in personality and opinion from the other candidates. He draws a much firmer line between what he does and doesn’t believe in, and his tone sounds altogether more relaxed and confident.
He believes that ASB can’t be expected to solve every issue facing the school, but there are a few things that it does have the power to do. “There’s a whole lot of problems the school has,” he said. “The … student government can’t fix most of the current problems.”
His previous experience is unique. Although Kerman has not participated in student government before, he has captained sports teams, and is the current president of his family’s non-profit. He has therefore had experience handling budgets and working in a setting similar to ASB. He enhances his leadership experience by tutoring kids and coaching kids in tennis.
Kerman’s view of his ability to represent students is less confident than those of the other candidates. “You can never be sure [that you are representing everyone] — Paly is such a diverse place,” Kerman said. “Majority opinion is always the best way to do things.”
As to what Paly ASB should be accomplishing during the next year, Kerman has several ideas to contribute. “[We should] give the school a better relationship with Stanford,” Kerman said. He describes his motivation for doing so as being “untapped potential”. Kerman also plans to increase communication around campus. “I feel … there’s a lack of communication between [students] and adults and the administration,” Kerman said.
On the controversial topics of breathalyzing at dances and Spirit Week involvement, the boy candidate was able to be clear and direct about his opinions. “I do not support teen drinking,” he said. “It’s a fact that students at this school like to drink. I think the best move here is to cancel the dances.”
Spirit Week, Kerman explained, is a tradition that some will always choose not to participate in. “Student government can only do so much here,” Kerman said. “You don’t want to make them feel bad for not participating.” He stresses the importance of social networking in rallying the Junior Class. “There should be a bigger emphasis online.”
Finally, Kerman believes in choosing the will of the majority over his own opinion. “I generally think that in something as … elementary as student government, where huge … decisions aren’t going to change [much] … the students have the decision,” he said. “It’s about what they want … to represent.”
Soo Song
As a 4th period representative to ASB this past year, Soo Song believes that she has learned enough about the student government at Paly to make the best possible impact. “I have a lot of passion and dedication,” Song said.
Song believes that the single biggest problem facing the school is the communication issues between ASB and the student body. They key to fixing this, is “boosting the 4th period rep program,” Song said. According to her, the fourth period rep’s are extremely important to the student body. “Fourth period rep’s gave a lot of input on the bell schedule,” she said.
She plans to represent the students as best she can. “I would [create a facebook group] so the class knows that we’re [ASB is] doing,” Song said. She insists that communication between the students and the student body is the most important thing to improve. Were she to be faced with a decision in which the students were of an opinion that conflicted with that of ASB, she would side with the student government. “In that situation, I would go with ASB,” she said. “That situation could only happen if there was a lack of communication, which wouldn’t happen if I was vice president.”
Song has several goals for ASB in the next year. She hopes to unify the Junior Class during spirit week by publicizing spirit and telling people what to wear. She also hopes to improve dance attendance by improving publicity and planning. “[The dances are] not publicized enough … some of the dates clash with Illusions.”
To improve dance atmosphere, Song would push “mo
re of a random screening method,” in respect to breathalyzing. However, she still strongly supports the use of a breathalyzer system. “As much as people don’t like breathalyzing, I feel that it is necessary to keep a safer school environment,” she said. “We need to find different ways to boost attendance.”
In order to encourage Spirit Week activity, Song wants to make everything about the week bigger and better. “Planning even greater cheers … bigger rallies [is necessary],” she said. “Everyone will participate if it’s encouraged.”
Song believes that she is qualified for the position of Vice President of the Junior Class because she finds herself personable. “[I am] approachable … I think that’s really key … I have a lot of energy and dedication,” Song said.
Sophie Parker
Sophie Parker hopes to use the leadership she has picked up from “Jewish summer camp”, cheerleading and competitive dance to unify next year’s Junior Class. “I would spend a lot of time planning activities for the grade and ways to bond everyone,” she said.
Parker’s goals include making the year as fun as possible, uniting the grade, and helping the class to succeed in Spirit Week. To encourage Spirit Week participation, she plans to use activities that will bond the class and unify it towards a common goal.
According to Parker, she is organized and social. She said that these skills will allow her to keep track of what everyone wants, and to work well with whoever is elected president, as she is friends with all of the candidates.
She also plans on using her social skills in order to represent the students as well as is possible. “I’ll talk to as many people as I can, try to hear everyone’s opinion,” she said.
Parker strongly denounces breathalyzing at dances. “[It is a ] bad idea, just because it’s lowered the [attendance] numbers extremely,” she said. “Changing it … would make them [dances] more fun.”
Given an instance that would force the Vice President to choose between his or her own opinion (made wiser by ASB experience), and the opinion of the general student body, Parker would not settle for anything less than mutual happiness. “I would find a compromise, and a solution based on … what people want and ASB wants,” she said.
Editor’s note: this article was written by Beginning Journalism student Spencer Carlson.