Three Elected to State, District Offices at Stu-Co Convention
by Merydeth Cummings
11.14.07
“If you were an office
utensil, what office utensil
would you be?” was one of
the questions student council
members asked potential
candidates for state office
Oct. 22 at the Student Council
Convention.
This year, the convention
was held at Lincoln North
Star High school, and almost
900 student council members
from across the state came.
Every year the convention is
held to elect new members
into state office.
PL South
will be well represented in
the state offices as junior
Mike Shaivone was elected
president of the Nebraska
Student Council and junior
Matan Gill was elected
vice president. Sophomore
Mercedes McClure was
elected District 8 vice
president.
“When we were waiting for
the winners to be announced,
I was really nervous, but then
after they finally announced
them I was satisfied,”
McClure said.
Once the students arrived
at the convention, they were
checked in and filed into
the gymnasium, where the
speeches for the elections
were made. A motivational
speaker talked about what it
meant to be a leader, and the
current president welcomed
everyone to the convention.
Then the election process
began, and each school’s
student council was to
select two people from their
school to ask the candidates
questions. Shiavone and Gill
were well prepared for these
questions after practicing
with former president and PL
South graduate Matt Kelly.
“We contacted former
presidents and vice presidents
and asked them for insight on
how the election would go,”
Gill said. “PL South graduate
Matt Kelly told us about how
we would be brought into a
room to be asked questions
by student council members
from other schools. When we
practiced for it, we asked each
other questions like ‘Why
do you want to run for state
president?’ but later I got
asked ‘If you were an office
utensil, what office utensil
would you be?’ I answered‘recycled paper,’because my
service project has to do with
the environment.”
In order to run for vice
president, each person had
to design a service project
that every student council in
Nebraska would participate
in. Gill chose a project
focused on the environment,
called “Go Green.” His
project included planting
trees, recycling paper and
raising awareness about the
environment. Each candidate
was required to prepare a 3-
minute maximum speech for
the convention.
This was not
all that went into preparation
for the election. Campaigning
was the main way to get
support and Shiavone and
Gill asked the PL South
student council to help them
with the process. They spent
$70 each on campaigning for
creating their theme, slogan
and sending post cards
regarding their quest for office. |
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