The Student Council (SC) conducted its Miting de Avance and elections on April 17 and 18 respectively, and released the list of its members for School Year (SY) 2024-2025.
The candidates were divided into the Starlight and Moonlight parties, although very few positions had any competition at all.
There were three Grade 7 batch representatives, namely Sofia Ang, Samantha Raquino, and Kristen Tan. They were followed by the two Grade 8 batch representatives, JC Benales and Amanda Chuaquico, and the two Grade 9 batch representatives, Adrianna So Kua and Angela Yu. The other three batch representatives, Elijah "Eli" Cabanlet, Alfred Arias, and Aliyah Villafuerte, candidates for Grades 10, 11, and 12 respectively, had no competition.
Likewise, the candidates for Student Relations (Wendy Wang), Promotions (Sophie Roy), Logistics (Charles Sze), and Finance (Chlarisse Tia) had no competitors and were virtually guaranteed an election victory.
Tia, the Finance Secretary candidate, was asked how she would improve transparency and accountability within the Student Council's funds, especially seeing as her campaign video emphasized those two characteristics as her primary attributes.
This comes after the Student Council was forced to collect funds from all students for the Foundation Week event to salvage their financial situation, which reportedly took a toll on their balance sheet, only to be met with reluctance, dissatisfaction, and even hostility from students.
While she stated that she would not be able to disclose how SC funds would be spent, she promised to be honest in responding to questions from the student body about the distribution of funds. No specific details were provided.
The Programs Head position had a rivalry between Misha Perez and Christian Ocaoi, the only position aside from the batch representatives to have competition.
Lastly, the sole candidate for President, George Hizon, was requested to share his thought process for problem-solving.
He responded by stating that as an effective leader, he would first gain an understanding of the problem at hand in order to evaluate the credentials and skills of his fellow officers to select the most capable officer to address the problem rather than attempting to do everything himself.
When asked about what he wanted his long-lasting impact to be, he stated that he wanted the SC to make everyone feel involved: "We're called the Student Council, not the Supreme Council."
In an interview with Candle Pen prior to the Miting de Avance, Hizon was asked about how the SC can balance event quality with financial cost. He stated that planning was somewhat rushed this school year leading to unexpected costs and quality issues, but that he would address that in the next school year by planning far ahead in advance to deliver higher quality events for less cost.
Hizon also noted that within the feedback provided by students, they expressed a want for more interaction during events. As such, he hoped that next year, SC events would directly involve the students, such as through competitions.
Lastly, Hizon promised that under his presidency, every student would feel included in the decision-making of the SC and that no one would be left behind.
The results of the vote were released later that day.
Story by Jerome Tan;
Graphics by Anika Uy
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