The following speeches were given by prospective school board representatives. This position is currently held by Ian Segall who sat as a panelist for this portion. The candidates, Katelyn Liao, Jonathan Schwartz, and Sasha Friedman are all currently juniors.
Segall explained the need for the candidate selected to be able to communicate with adults as well as students when serving.
Liao spoke first and addressed her ability to serve effectively.
“With my past experiences, including speaking to state senators at the state capitol about consent education, I have developed the skills necessary to serve this position,” Liao said.
Schwartz delivered his statements next and included that, “I am the only candidate on this stage to have actually been to the school board and advocated for students. I’m the most passionate and best prepared to get something done.”
Friedman was last and described his main campaign goals.
“The mental health of Berkeley High students has been on a rapid decline,” Friedman said. “To make a change, I will interview students, conduct surveys, and engage my peers in coming up with solutions to this problem. I will present our findings to the board and demand that they implement policies that improve the mental health of Berkeley High students.”
The two candidates for Associated Student Body (ASB) president were Gursimar Kaur, the current Chief of Service, and Drew Henderson, the current Junior Class President. Henderson ran with Erin Freeman, the only candidate for ASB Vice President and the current Junior Class Vice President.
“I stand here today to propose plans which I believe are vital to addressing and working on key issues such as lack of communication, lack of community and to an extent, school spirit.” Kaur said in her opening statement.
Henderson and Freeman spoke of plans that are already underway to improve mental health by discussing it in earlier grades.
“We have been, and are currently working with Mr. Raygoza, the Health Center, and middle schools to give presentations talking to them about mental health. (We’re) trying to fight the stigma around the topic and also inform the ninth graders on the resources they have within the health center,” Freeman explained.
As the only candidate running for the position of Chief of Service, Kainoa Tomikawa won his election by default.
The office of Chief of Publicity was by far the most popular, with 9 candidates vying for the position: Antonio Nordman, Ki’Donyae Bell, Liam Tucker, Tyler Kim, Daniel Vencill, Cami Sackey, Melody Castro, Noe Linvill, and Amaya Houston. One current Chief of Publicity, Ari Fendel sat as a panelist for the Q and A portion.
All non-senior BHS students can begin online voting on March 28. Results will be announced on April 1.