Student elections adapt to COVID-19

Student+elections+adapt+to+COVID-19

Jacob Zalis, Newton North High School

NESPA Winner: Localizing, 2021

The Newtonite, Newton North High School, Newton, Mass.

All four grades will be having class elections for student body presidents and vice presidents, as well as the student faculty administration (SFA) Monday, Oct. 18.

The setup for this year’s elections must conform to current COVID-19 guidelines set in place by the state. According to math teacher and elections coordinator Rachel Mingos, those guidelines led them to hold elections on Zoom.

“One of the limitations on this year’s elections is we can’t have an assembly in the auditorium with a full grade like we had in the past. We’re not able to meet in the gym for more than 15 minutes. So, we decided we wanted to do it remotely,” she said.

Sophomore ZZ Sayeed, who won her class’s election for president last year and is now running for re-election, said that last year “there wasn’t as much campaigning going around.”

The election “really just relied on your speech, or video, which is why I think I got elected, because of my speech,” Sayeed said. “This year I think it’ll rely a lot more on posters and just having yourself out there and introducing yourself a lot.”

Read the full story at The Newtonite’s site, thenewtonite.com