In past years, students running for student council (StuCo) have depended on their speeches to pitch themselves and their ideas to their classmates, but this year candidates are turning to social media to secure votes. 

According to StuCo adviser Erica Rickard, since assemblies are not possible right now, students running for office are encouraged to campaign in place of giving a speech at an assembly.

“We made some adjustments due to COVID-19 that eliminated some of the speeches for those running for office this year, but I believe this is the first time in quite a lot of years that not all candidates are being asked to give speeches as part of their campaigns,” Rickard said. “I do not know what the reaction from students will be, but I do know that not all students at past assemblies seemed particularly interested in the speeches that were being given.”

At the start of the 2020-2021 school year, students came in on a day off to give their speeches. The speeches were then sent out to teachers and presented during seminar. According to the StuCo constitution, the students running must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 and must have a petition signed by 20 students of their class. The constitution never states that a speech is required, which is part of the reason why candidates are encouraged to campaign and have the option of giving a video speech, but there is no requirement. The students running have shown both excitement and disappointment towards the change. Junior Caleb Koontz is still planning to make a video speech, but looks forward to campaigning in other ways. Koontz is running for student body president. 

“For campaigning, I will post on social media and probably hand out treats at school as the deadline for voting gets closer. I also plan to make my speech entertaining,” Koontz said. “I decided to run for an executive position because I have been in a wide variety of activities at NHS and hope to run events that everyone can partake in. Executives have more influence on the entirety of the student council and I hope to use that influence to better everyone’s experiences at NHS.”

Koontz added that some things he will add to the executive team are an initiative to make things happen as well as a sense of caring for all students at NHS. Koontz is not running unopposed, his competitor is junior Clayton Kaufman, who also has plans of being student body president. 

“I want to run for student body president because I enjoy leading and I want to become a better leader for the sake of my peers,” Kaufman said. “For executive positions, one runs for a certain position and they are entered on the ballot for that position. On the day of elections, the candidates would typically give speeches and are chosen by voters from the entire student body, except for seniors.”

Sophomore Taylor Redington is also running for an executive position, but she is running for secretary-treasurer. In the past, the position of secretary-treasurer has been split between two people, but this year Redington is running for the combined position. 

“I decided to run for an executive because I have been in my class student council both years I have been at the high school. I feel like I have a lot of connections throughout the entire school which can give a lot of advantages for planning and other things like that. I plan to campaign via social media,” Redington said. “There is probably a more effective way but this is the easiest and most popular choice. I have really enjoyed being a part of the fundraisers and events in StuCo because it is just so much fun. I am looking forward to getting to do things that have been cancelled from COVID-19 both years I have been in StuCo.”