Student Council Presidential election gets competitive juices flowing
When the student body at a school is made up of highly driven, competitive athletes, it should come as no surprise that the Student Council Presidential election turned into a hotly contested race with all candidates thoroughly invested in the process and the outcome.
Three candidates and one write-in contestant threw their hats into the ring. Ian Beauregard, Rebecca Clark, Spencer Belsky and Tommy Shantler all aimed to convince the Killington Mountain School community that they were the right choice to represent the students and enact change and improvement on campus.
Each student in the running made a speech at all-school community lunch announcing their candidacy, and followed that up with a week of campaigning, positioning, and poster hanging. Ian, Becca, and Spencer then participated in a debate expertly moderated by Gabe Robinson-Leith. There were several questions that had been given to the candidates ahead of time, and then some for which they were not prepared. Students in the audience were also able to pose their own questions, which were thoughtful and yielded insightful answers.
The polls then officially opened very dapper Matt Fryer checked in with a video during the voting process updating everyone on the vote tallies using pie charts and percentages. Ultimately, it was Fryer again who announced the winner, and the 2016-2017 Student Council Presidency was awarded to Spencer Belsky.
Spencer shared, “The election was a very fun and also competitive process, and I’m happy to be able to represent the students at Killington Mountain School.”
Runner-up Becca Clark finished just behind Belsky and was named Vice President. When asked about the election process, Becca commented “I’m really excited to have been a part of the first student body presidential election at KMS, and I’m looking forward to giving voice to student concerns throughout the year.”
All-in-all, the election elicited not only a healthy spirit of competition around the school but more importantly, a focus on how to be an effective public speaker, an analysis of what it takes to be a leader, and how best to listen to one’s peers and go about enacting change. Congratulations President Belsky and Vice President Clark!
