In a school community where individual voices can often go unnoticed, student council elections offer a rare chance to turn ideas into actions and make a change while offering students a chance to experience mock political polling.
Lakewood High School Student Council elections concluded last week. Over a two-week timeline, students campaigned for one week, and then voted in the second. An application process is needed in order to submit for the roles they desire to run for, to ensure students are qualified.
Being split between President, Vice President, Secretary, and Publicist, there are four student representatives per class, with the senior class having eight, including Student Body representatives.
“Sometimes it can come down to the wire,” said Jessica Murphy, student council advisor. “Last year, there was a two-vote difference between someone who’s here this year representing their class and someone who is not. So I hope that people feel that their voice is represented, because it truly is.”
Teachers’ and students’ votes are all weighted the same within this voting process at Lakewood High. There is no extension in voting, even for an authority figure.
“We’ve tried a couple of different things in the past about how people vote,” Murphy said, “We’ve tried in-person voting, but also online voting.”
Last year, elections were held in person with students voting in front of student body officials. Voting in person caused numbers to go down compared to voting online, influencing the return to digital voting this year. This trial-and-error approach echoes a larger electoral system, where the different voting methods are implemented differently or refined in order to encourage more voter participation.
“Student Council has a good influence on school decisions,” Murphy said. “Student body representatives meet with administration periodically, and student council officers that want to bring to attention they do, for example, Mia Dugan (Sophomore Class President) did her coat drive this year, that was just an idea she had last year, and she just kind of kept building upon it.”
Student Council helps provide a platform for students to take ownership of their ideas. They are not only defined by their position, but by their ability to grow ideas over time, and build space for both leadership development and community contribution.
“I relied a lot on word of mouth,” said Student Body Publicist Cora Barcelona. “I ended up sending my campaign posters to my close friends so that they could post them or show them to people who were outside of my circle, and that was how I was able to reach people past my normal group of friends.”
Election winners often relied on informal networks to expand their reach. By using peer connections, Barcelona was able to connect with a wider proportion of the student body during her campaign.
“I do think posters influence how students vote, especially when they are hanging up in the school,” Barcelona said. “Sometimes people will just open the voting ballot just to do it, and they’ll click on the name that they recognize the most, and that might just be a name that they saw in the hallway.”
There is importance in reducing the pressure surrounding Student Council Elections, emphasizing that participation itself holds value. Junior Class Publicist Carissa LaForte encourages more students to step forward and try for the role they desire to help create a more inclusive and engaged student leadership environment.
“If you have any thought, just do it, because the worst that can happen is that you don’t win, and that’s not even that bad,” LaForte said. “There’s never been a time where people have been ignored or just had their ideas disregarded…you get to add your own initiatives, and everyone supports you.”
Student Council Elections offer a look at how participation, leadership, and visibility intersect within a school community, revealing that recognizing a name on a ballot, or sharing a campaign poster on social media or around the school, can help shape the outcome.
