After missing a year of fundraising and planning, the Class of 2026 comes back stronger than ever and ready to take on elections. Around the school, posters of all variations with bright colors and wide varieties of slogans and images filled the walls of Malden High. Prior to the election, the candidates were ecstatic and used their best tactics to convince the sophomores to vote for them. Within the rules of no handouts and no negative comments, the Class of 2026 handled the election in a fair and fun way.
Photos of student council posters.
Prior to the elections, the candidates were joyful and had lots to say. Class president Eldana Abrhame said she wanted to run for president because she felt it correlated with her friendliness and outgoing personality.
“I chose to run for president because I feel I have a high leadership role also within the school and also out of school, I am an older sibling, so I play a bigger role in the family,” Abrhame noted. She mentioned it was something she had looked forward to for a long time. Abrhame mentioned “The connection that you build between people and the literal intimacy that you build with people and friends” was a major exciting tactic that came with student council.
The elections started off with an email from Nancy Wentworth for those interested. Then, the final candidates' designed their posters. Rules were set, with posters not being allowed to be more than 8.5¨ x 11¨. Additionally, other rules included smear campaigning and no bribing. Once boundaries were set, the games began as candidates covered the school in various forms of campaigning. Many creative posters were plastered around the school in several creative spots. Candidates continued to campaign for the weeks to follow with social media posts, posters, and more.
Advisor Nancy Wentworth showed her excitement to be an advisor this year as she talked greatly about the council.“ They elected a fantastic council, all of the members are wonderful,” Wentworth stated. Wentworth mentioned how responsible the council is, and how quickly they worked as a team to host their first sale.
“In less than 24 hours, they took ownership of something I sort of had in my head — they took it, ran with it, and were incredibly successful,” Wentworth remarked. She mentioned how quickly the council worked to put together the bake sale so last minute. She continues to mention how great the team flows together.
Treasurer Oscar Luc feels similarly as he mentioned, “It's a very fun environment and people on the council are very supportive of each other.”
Secretary Gabriela Parini Cordova, Reporter for the Blue and Gold, mentioned her excitement for the future of her time in the student council. “I’m very proud of being in this position, and I feel like this year's council is really going to be great and amazing.”
Cordova explained how well the council is working together as they plan out future events. She mentioned the openness the council has. “Whenever someone brings up an idea, everybody is very open and we all just say what we think about ideas and what we wanna do,” Cordova said.
Elections ended on October 26th. As the election results (noted below) were announced over the loudspeaker, the new council members rejoiced in excitement. As the year goes on, the Class of 2026 continues to strive and work together to configure the best council possible. Malden High looks forward to future events from them as they host their Thanksgiving meal raffle and announce winners on November 22nd.
The winners of the election and were as follows: President Eldana Abrhame, Vice President Rashmi Kc, Secretary Gabriela Parini Cordova, Treasuer Oscar Luc, Art Director Mailee To, Social Media Coordinator Sarah Fontaim, and Event Coordinators Katie Nguyen and Linh Do.
