The second round of voting has narrowed the pool of Student Council President candidates to six. Voting took place online last Tuesday, in which over 80% of the student body participated. The remaining candidates are Jon Adler, Tantum “Teddy” Collins, Lydia Dallett, Blaine Johnson, Joey Mensah and Max Meyer. The next voting session will take place on March 6, as the field will narrow to the final three candidates. To hear the candidates talk about their ideas, WPAA will be broadcasting a debate on March 5th from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. One of the candidates, Jon Adler, is a three-year Upper from Brookline, Massachusetts. He said, “I am running for school president because I know I can help our school and deliver the student voice to the administration. It is important that we work with the administration to accomplish our goals.” Some of Adler’s main ideas include making Student Council meetings more open to public viewing and educating students about the DC system. Another hopeful for Student Council President is Tantum “Teddy” Collins. In his third year at Phillips Academy, Collins decided to run because, as he said, “I would like to institute changes that help make life at PA more comfortable for everyone.” Collins already has experience with student government, having served as the Student Council secretary for the past two years. His primary campaign goals are to establish the student voice with an online discussion forum and to continue to work on projects such as online sign-in. Lydia Dallett, a day-student turned boader, also remain in the field. A three-year Upper from Andover, Dallett said, “My inspiration for running for School President is two-fold. I want to try to break the trend of male presidents [as] there have been only four girl presidents in the 37-year history of co-ed elections. In addition, I feel that I am part of a great variety of organizations, so that with this experience, I can offer a perspective to Student Council that incorporates many ideas from many groups of individuals.” In her platform ideas, Lydia stressed the importance of a unified community that openly shares ideas. Blaine Johnson is the other female among the remaining contestants. Johnson has been at Andover for three years and takes part in activities such at peer tutoring and proctoring for the Brace Center. Her ideas to add to the campus range from expanding wireless internet connections on campus to adding water bubblers to all buildings. Joey Mensah is another of the remaining candidates. A three-year Upper from Avon, Connecticut, Mensah’s major campaign ideas concern student voice, Commons and continuing the work of previous school presidents. Like many of the contenders, Mensah encourages students to share their ideas with him, as he said, “Together, we can build a better Andover for ourselves and for future students.” He has developed a web site, www.votemensah.com for this very purpose. Max Meyer is the final remaining contender. Meyer is a new Upper from Spearfish, South Dakota. Meyer is a passionate musician, as he has been playing the piano since he was eight years old. One of his platform ideas is to expand the music scene at Andover. His other ideas include working on the key card for the Ryley Room, adding more continuous dining choices and providing more parking for day students.
