After two rounds of elections, the Class of 2014 has selected Scott Diekema ’14, Rem Remmel ’14 and Junius Williams ’14 as its Student Council Upper Representatives for 2012-2013.
Williams, a current Lower Representative, and Diekema and Remmel, both new to Student Council, look forward to increasing class spirit and class social events and continuing projects from this year’s Student Council.
The six finalists, David He ’14, Clark Perkins ’14, current Lower Representative, Clint Yoo ’14, Diekema, Remmel and Williams delivered speeches at an optional class meeting on Friday, April 27. Voting commenced following the meeting.
The initial round consisted of 22 candidates, more than double the number from last year. Only 10 members of the Class of 2013 ran for Upper Representative.
Because there was such a large number of candidates, the Blackboard voting poll consisted of two questions, instead of one, in order to accommodate all of the candidates’ names, according to Hemang Kaul ’13, School President-Elect.
Names were divided between the two questions, and voters had to select their top six candidate choices among both lists.
The Upper Representatives’ first priority as members of Student Council is to continue developing BluePrint, a program that will allow students to print wirelessly to different printers on campus. The project was started this year by the current Lower Representatives, Perkins and Williams.
Although the project is still in the development phase, Williams and Perkins have been actively pursuing the project with the Technology Department, according to Williams.
Diekema, Remmel and Williams also plan to organize more all-class bonding activities and increase class spirit.
Diekema said, “I would like to enhance class spirit and have more on-campus class events to bring our class closer together.”
In his platform, Remmel proposed raising money for the class fund by organizing dances, competitions and lemonade stands. “Fun brings people together,” said Remmel.
Williams suggested ordering class apparel earlier in the school year.
“We definitely want to make apparel come faster, and make it more organized. [We will also] work with Mr. [Dale] Hurley [Advisor to the Class of 2014] to make [the process] more structured and get everything out on time,” said Williams.
While the three are excited about their new positions, they understand that they will face some challenges as Upper Representatives, according to Diekema.
“I think one of the biggest challenges on Student Council will be to turn our ideas into action, being effective and getting everything done,” said Diekema
Kaul said that he hopes Student Council as a whole will make more visible impacts on the school in the coming year.
“I’m really looking to expand the range [of Student Council], in order to make changes,” said Kaul.
Mikaela Rabb ’14 said, “I think they are wonderful assets to the Class of 2014. I really like the BluePrint idea, and I know that a lot of people are excited for the idea to go through. I think all three representatives will bring a lot of different ideas to the table and work very well together.”
“I’m really excited about the new Upper Reps. I have a lot of confidence that they are going to bring our class to the top and make our time at Andover awesome,” David Belluche ’14 said.
