After two weeks of campaigning and advocating to get their petitions signed, 36 freshman candidates running for 2023 class council gave their speeches to their class on Friday, Nov. 8.

All freshmen came to a mandatory meeting in the auditorium during eighth period to watch the candidates give their speeches. 

“I am running because I want to make our school a better place. I also want to make sure that homecoming is better,” Vivian Gao, a candidate for historian said. “I want to make sure that MEX is more coordinated, and we have time in advance so that people can sign up.”

For other candidates, previous experiences incentivized them to run.

“I am running for senator because it was really interesting to me,” Johanna Lohmus, a candidate for senator said. “Back in middle school I was the NJHS president and we got to organize spirit days and things to raise morale. It was so fun just getting to see people’s smiles when they got to enjoy school.”

According to senior and SGA president Ronith Ranjan, running for student council is a challenging but rewarding experience.

“I can tell you from my personal experience from when I ran in June of my freshman year,” Ranjan said. “[Running] has been a transformative experience. There were lots of things I did expect and did not expect.”

Despite the competitive nature of the election, Ranjan believes that running for class council has many benefits.

“Through the class council process, you have the chance to work with sponsors and with the school administration. You have a chance to get your voice heard and be the voice for other students,” Ranjan said. “You can talk about theories in civics class and your history class and there’s so many things that we do in school, but student government does a great job of incorporating those necessary skills and allows you to use it in the school community.”

Other candidates agree that running for class council is an experience worth pursuing.

“I would definitely say to put in a lot of effort for elections and to run,” Lohmus said. “It’s definitely worth it, even if you don’t win it’s a good experience.”