The Associated Student Body freshmen elections for president and vice president concluded on Aug. 28 with freshmen Annie Meng elected president and Helen Li elected vice president.
According to Meng, equal representation is one of her priorities. She said she wants to make sure every student has a voice.
“The feeling of being excluded and left out is something I never want anyone to feel at Paly,” Meng said.
In addition to representation, Li said another goal of the student body team is to boost freshman class spirit.
“According to upperclassmen, freshmen have consistently been the least spirited class in the past, so I thought I could help encourage more participation among my peers,” Li said. “We have never had anything like (the first week rally) before Paly, and I had so much fun.”
She said school spirit is about “showing up to rallies and other events ready to give it your all.”
Meng said school spirit also involves unity and comfort among peers.
“To me, school spirit means that everyone feels a powerful sense of synergy and oneness together,” Meng said. “Everyone is proud of how far they have come and support each other to achieve a common goal. (We have) some pretty fun socials planned, like an instant ramen social and a boba social planned.”
In addition to Spirit Week, Meng said her goals go beyond helping the freshman class acquaint themselves with each other. She would also like to work to make lunch lines and bike cages less crowded.
Campaigning was a new experience for both of the candidates, and Li said she had a lot of friends who helped her.
“I was planning on a poster that had my friend’s handprints on it, and they would write a trait that made me qualified for president on their handprints,” Li said. “After I had planned it out, I brought paints and brushes to school where, during lunch, my friends and I had a lot of fun making the poster.”
However, Meng said the process of running for office was time-consuming.
“Balancing sports, extracurricular activities and homework all while leaving hours to work on my posters took a big toll on my sleep schedule and left me very little time to study for tests and quizzes,” Meng said.
Looking forward, Meng said she is excited to take on an ASB leadership role and help lead this year’s rallies and events.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know more of my classmates and bringing up freshmen participation at rallies, socials, dances and other events,” Meng said. “When planning, I want to be a leader everyone can look up to (and make) sure all perspectives are taken into consideration.”
