Lightridge SCA held an election on September 9 for freshmen members running for new positions as they transitioned into high school. This was a closed election with only the other grades’ SCA officers voting. This is the first time SCA officers have been chosen in this manner.
Conducting the election after the school year had started was a new change, but it took the pressure off of the Willard SCA sponsors. Holding the election after the students entered Lightridge eased confusion and let the Lightridge SCA sponsors organize the election.
“We wanted to make sure that the leaders coming in the freshmen class are actually going to put in the work that’s needed to transition into high school,” said Senior Class President Mannat Kaur. “We want to make sure the freshmen have a strong foundation so that it is easier to fundraise in future classes.”
The closed election was an effort to change the culture of Lightridge SCA. In previous years, the election was seen as more of a popularity contest than an election for the SCA positions and SCA leaders wanted to fix this problem. This year, only the established SCA officers were allowed to vote, with the theory being they have the most knowledge on what the new officers would be getting themselves into, and therefore they would be the best to choose who would be best for each role.
Each candidate created a slideshow to present why they would be the best for the president, vice president, director of communications, and director of finance roles for the freshman class. The slideshows were reviewed by the officers without an in-person presentation from the creators.
In addition to the presentations, the spirit director candidates also had to speak directly to the upper class officers. This was done because the spirit director role requires someone with good public speaking and little self consciousness as they will be doing whatever they can to get people to participate in school spirit events.
“At first I was nervous, but they were really nice and had genuine questions that I was excited to answer,” said Lily Samson, who won the job as the freshman spirit director. “I want to create a good environment where nobody will feel judged but encouraged to be spirited.”
The new officers started work immediately after the elections were held.
