Sophomore discusses life lessons from running for East student council

Although I would agree that student council bears little resemblance to actual politics, it has still managed to teach me some valuable life lessons. Even if those life lessons haven’t prepared me for a life in the White House.
This year I ran for Junior Class President, and was subsequently defeated. But because of that loss, I have  learned and grown much more as a person than both of my previous campaigns combined. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a blessing in disguise. But it certainly wasn’t all bad.
The months leading up to this year’s campaign were filled with unbridled anticipation. You see, last year I had wanted to run for something other than treasurer. I was bored with my current position and thought that it was time for me to move up in the ranks of positions that differ in nothing but title. But when I checked the slate, the only position that didn’t have a candidate signed up was treasurer.

I faced the ever hard decision between what I wanted to do, what would make me happy, and the prospect of compromising someone else’s hopes. Their hopes of running unopposed, and without the fear that their desire of holding an exceptionally coveted position on East’s student council might end in disappointment.

Originally I chose selfishness. I decided I would run for Vice President. If it was a title that I was after, then Vice President seemed like a reasonable step up from Treasurer, and therefore suited me well. Soon after signing up, I made my way down to the library where I eagerly wrote a humorous speech comparing myself then Vice President, Dick Cheney. As I printed off the speech and was making my way to room 307 to submit it to Ms. Fishman, I ran into a friend and fellow StuCo member who was also running for an officer position. I told her where I was on my way to.

“You’re running for treasurer, right?”

“No, actually I’m running for Vice!”

“No don’t do that, if you run for treasurer, then all of us can be officers… ok?”

“Alright.”

That’s all it took for me to change my mind, and to convince myself of my what at the time seemed like   selfish motives. I empathized with the person running for Vice President, and decided to run for Treasurer,for the second time.

Then at the speeches, where I gave what was just as humorous of a speech making jokes about money as was the one I wrote with jokes about having almost shooting someone in the leg with a rifle at camp, I heard the candidate for President saying something along the lines of “Wow, I don’t think my speech was very good. If someone were running against me I probably would have lost.”

I can still remember freshman year, when I had to write my very first election speech. I had never written a speech before in my life. The only time I had said anything into a microphone in front of my peerswas in my sixth grade spelling bee.

I had no idea how to do it. So I did what I always do when I have no idea what to do: I turned to Yahoo! Answers. I searched “Student Council Speech,” I found a question that mirrored my own dilemma. I scrolled down to the “Best Answer,” and followed the steps.

“Introduce yourself.”

“Hi, I’m Tom Lynch…”

“Tell them the position you are running for.”

“… and I’m running for Freshman Class Treasurer.”

In journalism, the lead is usually the hardest part, so it isn’t surprising that a start was all I needed. After that I talked about my qualifications including “loving to count money” and “being able to use a calculator.” Finally, I followed the poster’s last bit of advice, and concluded by reminding the students who I was.

“So, remember to vote for Tom Lynch for Treasurer!”

I had written my first speech. And after I gave it, my opponent in the Freshman election told me she would’ve voted for me if she had been in the audience. Plenty of people told me that I had the best speech. Freshman year they told me. Sophomore year they told me. And this year, I had teachers that I had never even seen before telling mehow much they had enjoyed my speech.

Then I lost. So not only has Student Council taught me how to give a speech, but it has also taught me not to rely on a single thing in order to achieve something. For example when I apply for college, I shouldn’t rely on either a good GPA, test scores, or my essays alone to get me in, but make sure that they are all good in case one isn’t “good enough.”

So yes, in the end I lost the election for Junior Class President. It may have been because I didn’t campaign hard enough. It may have been because the Freshman StuCo members picked up the envelopes without having all the votes in them. It was probably because having two boys running splits the guy vote and allows for an easy victory for the girl. But, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I’ve learned a lot from the experience of having run alone. Every year my speeches get a little bit better. My body shakes a little bit less when I stand in front of my class. And, I get a little bit more self confidence after all is done. Even when I lose.