Author Spotlight
Kelly Murphy
Photos by Kate Nixon
The student body voted for the 2019-2020 STUCO Executive Board members from 9 a.m. on Wednesday to 3 p.m. on Thursday. The five current juniors who were elected are Eva Hill (president), Reilly Moreland (vice president), Brigid Wentz (secretary) and Ian Gould (treasurer).
Eva Hill- president
How long have you been on STUCO for?
“This is my first year on STUCO.”
What is your role on STUCO now?
“I’m a junior class rep.”
What has your experience on STUCO been like so far?
“It’s been really interesting to see all the behind the scenes work around the school like designing posters and creating themes. I never knew how any of that was done before this year.”
Why did you decide to run for an exec position?
“I really enjoyed this year on STUCO and I think that I possess the qualities that would be successful on the exec board and I think it’d be fun to take a leadership role within Student Council.”
What will your responsibilities be as president?
“I will oversee every activity that goes on in Student Council around the school. I will have three other people on the exec board with me so that will take some of the pressure off of me, but I will still oversee everything that STUCO does.”
What do you hope to accomplish during your time as president?
“I hope that STUCO [will become] more organized so that we can have more projects and more events going on throughout the school year to increase the school spirit because it’s kind of lacking right now. I think [one example could be] like really enforcing that everyone in STUCO dresses up for spirit week because if STUCO doesn’t dress up, the student body won’t dress up. I think leading by example will create opportunities for other people to also get involved and want to get involved.”
Reilly Moreland- vice president
So how long have you been on STUCO for?
“I’ve been on STUCO since freshman year.”
What were your roles on STUCO in the past?
“Freshman year I went out for freshman class vice president, but I didn’t win. So I decided to apply for class representative in the fall of my freshman year and I got on. Then junior and sophomore year I’ve been a Co-Committee Chair of Public Relations.”
What has your experience on STUCO been like so far?
“It’s been really fun. I think it’s a really, really fun thing to get involved in. Being a representative for my class and my school is just a really cool experience. I think it’s one of the first things I got involved with here. Just the amount of people that I’ve gotten to meet and the people who I still know from STUCO is really great. It’s a really great community.”
Why did you decide to run for an exec position?
“Because I’ve been serving on student council for the past three years and I decided that I wanted more of a leadership position. I just thought that it would be a really cool thing to run for.”
Why did you choose to campaign even though you’re running unopposed?
“Yeah, so I actually was not running unopposed at first. But then they decided not to run for vice president. But I just thought it was fun to get my name out there [and] introduce myself to people who don’t know me. Just kind of put a face to a name. I feel like that’s beneficial because people will be like, ‘Oh, that’s the Student Body Vice President!’”
What will your responsibilities be as vice president?
“I actually don’t know for sure because this year we only have a student body president. We don’t have a vice president, secretary or treasurer. But I think because I’ll be in a leadership class with the teachers of STUCO, Fisherman and Pence, I’ll just be helping them out with all the things they need help with. And just being a help to the president, Hill. Just being just as much of a help as I possibly can.”
Brigid Wentz- secretary
How long have you been on STUCO for?
“So I’ve been on STUCO for the past three years. So I guess I’ll have been on STUCO for all four years high school.”
What were your roles on STUCO in the past?
“Freshman year I was Freshman Class President and then sophomore and junior year I’ve been the Special Events Co-Committee Chair.”
What has your experience on STUCO been like so far?
“STUCO has been really fun. It’s been one of my favorite experiences in high school. I actually like our Wednesday meetings, which some people don’t. We have to wake up pretty early since we have to be there at seven.”
Why did you decide to run for an exec position?
“So since I’ve done it all three years, I’ve seen what it takes to be on exec and what they do and it’s something that really interests me. I like leading people and being in charge so it kind of felt natural to run for it. It’ll be my fourth hour, so we’ll have an entire hour to plan stuff which will be really nice. And I like everyone else that’s going to be on the board so I think it’ll be really fun.”
What will your responsibilities be as secretary?
“Me, Reilly and Eva ran unopposed, so we kind of ran all together. Theoretically, we all could have run for one position. But we didn’t want to do that because we want to be together and for everyone to have a spot. Basically, we’ll work together on everything. We’ll be the people that stand at the front of the classroom on Wednesday mornings, lead the meetings and plan events [by contacting] outside organizations. Like one of the bigger things we’ll do is run the can drive and the can drive assembly. I guess the main difference between being on STUCO and being an exec is you just have more responsibilities that have to do with the [world outside of East].”
What do you hope to accomplish during your time as secretary?
“I want to hold more events and I really want to make getting people involved in student body a big deal. Because yes, there are certain people on STUCO, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be apart of the student body and what goes on in it. I really want to listen to what other people want to do. Because as much as I think my ideas are great, other people in his school may not. So, I want to get a lot of outside influence and plan things that more people can be a part of.”
Ian Gould- treasurer
How long have you been on STUCO for?
“Two years. I started sophomore year.”
What were your roles on STUCO in the past?
“My sophomore year I was class president and this year I’m class secretary.”
What has your experience on STUCO been like so far?
“I think it’s been pretty great. So, there are nine of us and we’re all kind of a team. I really like it, be it projects we work on or meetings. Personally, I prefer this year. I think I’m better [as secretary than as president]. Our current class president, Emory Apodaca, has been doing a fantastic job and I think he’s a better face for the whole thing than I am. I’m just happy to help out wherever I can.”
Why did you decide to run for an exec position?
“Ok so there’s a very small pool [of people who run for exec positions]. You have to have at least one year of STUCO experience and be either a junior or a sophomore. Almost no sophomores run, I can’t remember a time when that has happened. And you have to take the class and not many people want to do that. So I kind of decided to run out of necessity. We only have one executive officer this year, Jet Semrick. He was the only one that decided to run. I am kind of running out of necessity, but I definitely wouldn’t be if I didn’t think I would do a good job. I’ve spent two years on STUCO and I’ve tried my hardest to make the school a better place.”
What will your responsibilities as treasurer be?
“As treasurer, my job will be to deal with the money side of things. I think of myself as a pragmatist, so I’ll help manage costs and, in an effort to improve student outreach, I will make sure that we’re spending money on the right things. I’ll make sure that we’re using what we have so we can most improve the experience here [at East].”
What do you hope to accomplish if you’re elected treasurer?
“So the main problem I think that STUCO has is getting people involved. We just perpetually have a problem with student outreach. Part of it is due to apathy on part of both STUCO and the student body. There’s a disconnect there. Hopefully, if we have enough good, enthusiastic people on STUCO next year we can help solve that. We can publicize our events better and come up with more things that people want to do.”
Check out this Thinglink by Campbell Wood for more info:
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