Campaign week

Just last week, we had a very exciting and cutthroat experience at Jewish Culture High School: Student Council election and campaign week! We got to see so many new and fresh ideas from the students who decided to take initiative and rise up to the challenge. But you may be asking yourself: what makes campaign week such a high-stakes situation? From the outside, this week can look like any ordinary week at JCHS– vans, LA Fitness, electives, clubs, and all the other great stuff. However, for those of us who ran for our respective positions, a lot happened behind the scenes!

The process of running for student council started well before the campaign and election week began. In the weeks leading up to it, emails were sent out to all prospective candidates, outlining specific tasks that needed to be completed in order to qualify. Tasks ranged from demonstrating future plans to a group of admin to creating one-pagers based on the questions outlined in the task description. Each of these qualification rounds required hours of thinking and effort to present yourself in the best possible way.

Once election week arrived, we each had our respective positions that we would be running for and could begin our campaign. A word from the wise regarding campaigning: make a theme for yourself! Although it's not required, creating a theme or a funny motto is one of the best ways to enhance a campaign. This could be a short, direct statement about your main idea, a fun play on words, or a connection to your interests outside of student council. We saw a combination of these kinds of campaigns by all of the candidates as each added her own unique twist. 

Electee Miriam Friedman, who ran for StuCo President, went with creating a short and direct statement for her campaign which correlates to her main initiatives once elected into council. She took a strong approach with her slogan, “For Students By Students,” stating how her presidency would involve students creating and advocating for their fellow students. Gavi Citron and Leah Mansur, both running for their grades’ representative positions, each highlighted their prior experience on Student Council in their speeches, discussing their previous commitment and how they hope to be able to continue this year with their new ideas. Although Mikey Chokron is only in 8th grade, he rose to the occasion, choosing to run for student council to be a leading example and representative of his class. 

Maya Horenstein, Ruthie Assaraf, and Dani Kruger each ran for different Student Council positions—Maya for President, Ruthie for Vice President, and Dani for Class Representative—using clever wordplay in their campaigns. Along with her many beautiful and creative posters with various slogans hung around the school, Maya gave out Dum Dums to the student body while using the trademark statement, “Don’t be a Dum Dum and vote Maya for StuCo President!” Ruthie and Dani also made bold and clever campaign posters. Ruthie’s slogan, “Here’s the TRUTH: your only choice is RUTHie,” cleverly ties to her name and highlights the fact that she was the only candidate for vice president. Dani’s catchphrase “Vote PRINCESS Dani [for Class Rep]” connected to her now-famous nickname ‘Princess Dani’ as a result of her name being registered as such in the school’s system. 

Furthermore, electee, Mimi Nahon, running for Student Council President, chose to focus her campaign around her notorious chocolate pretzel business. Creating the slogan, “Vote MIMI and her PRETZELS for [StuCo] PRETZident!” while simultaneously handing out said treats was a way to demonstrate her dedication and creativity. Raaya Galinski, running for creative director, also broadcasted her creativity by creating a short, fun video that included the student body. By making a fun presentation and speaking with lots of energy, Orli Sharbani exhibited her eagerness and enthusiasm towards her position as 11th Grade Representative. 

Though election week was highly competitive, we couldn’t be happier with the results of our Student Council: Mimi and Miriam as Co-Presidents, Ruthie as Vice President, Orli as Creative Director, Dani as 11th Grade Representative, Leah as 10th Grade Representative, Maya as 9th Grade Representative, and Mikey as 8th grade Representative. Composed of fantastic and bright students who bring their all to the table, this year’s Student Council will be incredibly hard to beat! We are so excited about what is to come and can’t wait for all of the amazing things we have planned! 

Mimi Nahon