Candidate Alizah Nauman
“I can guarantee that if I am elected as junior class officer, I’m going to be 100% dedicated.”
Anushka: Why are you running for Junior Class Officer?
Alizah: One of the reasons that I’m actually running for this position is because I have two years of experience in class council and I’ve worked closely with Nosheen and Zayaan in planning activities, hosting events, and delegating tasks. I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the school functions and how to organize events. Also in terms of work ethic, I’m always really passionate about what I do and I feel that rather than doing 100 small things and not putting enough effort, if you do one thing and put in all of your effort, it works out a lot better. I can guarantee that if I am elected as junior class officer, I’m going to be 100% dedicated and I really have a vision for next year and implementing it would be beneficial for the entire class and I’m really passionate about that.
An: How do you plan on gaining input from the entire class for events?
Al: I think gaining input from the entire class is definitely really important and I know this year, there’s definitely a specific group of people that we always include but a majority of the class does not have enough information about the events and they don’t know how to participate. I feel like if we only interact with a specific group, we aren’t accomplishing anything. Next year, I want to increase communication channels because right now we only have a lot of publicizing on social media but there isn’t enough one on one interactions. Creating closer connections with people and reminding them that there are events, activities, and spirit weeks coming up, will really help engage the class. We need to make sure everyone is satisfied and their needs are being fulfilled and we can do this by creating google forms for the class to fill out and explain what they want to see throughout the year. It’s important that we reach out to the class through personal connections and online forums to let us know what we can do to help better the class.”
An: What do you want to accomplish as Junior Class Officer?
Al: As class officer, I want to increase class council itself so we can cater to a larger group of people and have more ideas and input from the class. It is junior year so it’s really important that we maintain a work-life balance and looking forward to coming to school which is why I want to increase engagement. I want to maximize our media impact and social media is a really good way to connect with people so if we put out more promotional videos and flyers for events, more people will want to come. In terms of increasing engagements, one of the things we can do is have everyone in class council bring two friends from outside so we can increase the number of participation in our events. Lastly, there’s a lot of events such as prom, fundraisers, spirit week, and I want to gain the entire class’ input and learn what they want to see at this event. It’s really important that we get feedback because we want to know what you want to see so you will have an enjoyable experience.”
An: What are some problems in class council and how do you plan on fixing them?
Al: I feel like we need more structure within class council and I remember this year class council was somewhat disorganized in terms of homecoming week and other events. I think that if we are able to delegate tasks in a way that people are actually interested in what they’re doing and they have tasks assigned to them, class council will be organized and productivity will be increased by a lot. Homecoming week is one of the most important weeks of the year and I think it’s important that we do more to prepare for it better so that we are not rushing and to get things done the day before. We should have better fund-raisers and make sure everyone has something to do and can contribute to class council. One of the most important things for the class is unity and the class needs a better sense of class and class council.”
An: How would you recruit people for class council?
Al: I plan on recruiting people for class council by publicizing on social media that we have applications and this needs to be heavy publicity because a lot of times people don’t even know that there are applications for class council and much less how to apply for it. It’s really important that we are reaching out to people in person through messaging them personally and we can do this by having current class council members message a certain number of people to apply for class council. Honestly, most of it is awareness so it’s important that we let people know by having more outreach.”
An: How do you plan on managing the large group of students in class council?
Al: I plan on managing class council by expanding the current committees so there are more specific roles. Throughout the year, we have different events and different needs for the events. For example, during bench building, our needs shift from all of the things that we have currently to materials and getting people to come during bench building. During this time, we can delegate tasks that are specific to the process of bench building. We could have one group in charge of getting materials, another in charge of getting funds, and another group in charge of reaching out and encouraging people to come. Additionally, one of the really important things is accountability and as for this I feel like one of the ways we can make sure people are actually doing the tasks is by having monthly check-ins about what progress they’ve made within their commissions. We could have every commission make a document with all of the tasks they were assigned and then the work finished should be checked off. Based on these documents, the class officers can give them feedback on what they could have done better and what they did well so they have a clear plan on what they should do next.”
An: How do you plan on increasing more spirit among the class?
Al: Class council is a great way to increase school and class spirit and I want to do this by encouraging more people to come to our events and we can do this by having things at our event that people actually want to be a part of. Obviously this is done by gaining feedback from the class to learn about what they want to see at events which essentially leads to larger engagement. Having more people attend our events will really increase spirit and we can also do this through the use of social media. If we put out more promotional videos on our page and incentivize people to want to post things about our events, it will create a ripple among our students and everybody will feel like they want to be a part of this.”
An: What kinds of events do you want to host next year?
Al: It’s extremely important that throughout the year we have different events to keep the class engaged otherwise people will lose interest in what the class is doing. It is junior year and we don’t want people to be unmotivated and we want them to look forward to coming to school. I want to have bondings, fundraisers, and other events that will continue during the school year so we will have events even after homecoming week ends. I want to have events and spirit days that engage the entire class and increase participation.”
An: What ideas do you have for prom? How do you plan on raising money for prom?
Al: It’s vital that we raise money for prom and I plan on doing this by having fundraisers throughout the year and making use of events such as club rush and the night markets to raise money. We could have events that people would be incentivized to come to so we can use the profits towards prom. For prom specifically, I want to put a lot of emphasis on a specific theme and I want all of the activities and decorations at prom to be around that theme. I also want to gain the class’ input on what they want to see in terms of photobooth, food, and drinks. To do this, I will put out google forms asking the class what they want to see and having options they can choose from for the theme and decorations.”