Sam Norwood and Jerry Barca are seeking votes for President of the Junior class. Three students are running for Vice President: Patrick Zwiller, Yuryanna Pimentel, Tom Farrell. Finally Elliot Mark, Colin Blumentritt, and William Westberry are running for the role of Secretary.

President Candidates

Sam Norwood

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I would like to be an officer of my class so I can improve the conditions and solve the problems that the Student Body is faced with. I would love to have the privilege to lead the change and help my peers in their endeavors. I believe that because I participate in a large range of the school’s activities, I have a personal knowledge of what can be improved to make Saint Joseph High School a better place. Moreover, I would like to be an officer of my class so that I might be able to be in a position to help meet the expectations of the Student Body on event planning, school policy, and day to day life. All in all, I would truly enjoy being an officer of my class so that I might help my fellow classmates in any way I can.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

The role of an officer at Saint Joe should look like the following: a role in which one helps the community, their peers, and their school grow and develop into their best possible selves. The role of an officer should be centered around the students and their needs and how those needs can be achieved. This role at Saint Joe should revolve around helping others and being the collective, unified voice of the Student Body. This role at its core should be mediating between the administration of the school and students of the school. I can see myself contributing to this leadership team in the way that I can bring multiple different perspectives to the table; thus, allowing for multiple different inputs to exist within discussions. Additionally, I believe that I can contribute in the way that I am willing to put in as much time as necessary to solve any problem – no matter how big or small.

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

The biggest challenges facing the students at Saint Joe today are as follows: administrative disconnect and a lack of school spirit. Administrative disconnect is one of the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today in the way that students may not agree with administrative rulings, and administrators may not understand the full impact of policy changes without communication. A lack of communication and no resolution between either party causes tension. I will help the students face these challenges by expressing the students’ dislike of current policies or new policies to the administration, and work with both parties until a compromise is reached. Another challenge that faces the students at our school today is a lack of school spirit; due to the Covid-19 pandemic many students came in online and the traditions of Saint Joe and the spirit that comes with it was never fully communicated. I will help students face this challenge by developing new practices to fully engage the student body in the activities of the school and develop a sense of pride. I will also speak to teachers and upperclassmen to see what traditions they remember from their years prior to Covid -19 and promote and reinstate them. 

Jerry Barca

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I want to be an officer of my class because I know that I have the leadership skills to bring unity among everybody in our class. When I hear people tell stories about their high school experience they always mention how close they were to their classmates and all the great times they had TOGETHER. The key word being together. Throughout the course of my freshman and sophomore year I never felt this togetherness. There haven’t been events where the whole class comes together and shares an experience that twenty years from now at our reunion, I could say, “Oh, remember that time when everybody…” This has to change, and the only way it changes is through a capable leader. I believe I have demonstrated my leadership and ability to bring people closer together, especially on the basketball court and in the classroom. If what you are doing isn’t bringing you joy, why waste your time doing it. I am a leader that can make high school the fun experience that it is chalked up to be.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

A class officer needs to be a direct leader and accountable. Everybody knows that an officer needs to be a leader, but the key is being direct. If you are a leader but cannot be direct with the people you are leading, then you cannot create the things you want to create. There is a clear difference between being direct and being mean. If you are direct you are demanding, and when there is execution you are positive and build-up whoever executed. Being mean is being demanding but not following up when there is execution. The other trait of a class officer is being accountable. If a leader is not held accountable then they are not a true leader. They have to be able to keep themselves in check and make sure they are on the right path to achieve their goals. I can see myself contributing to this leadership team by being direct, which includes being demanding and positive, and also being accountable for my actions and the actions of others. For example, if an event needs to be planned, I can plan it and make sure everybody else is doing their part to execute their plan. Being a direct leader and staying accountable are qualities of an effective and efficient class officer.

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

The biggest challenge our student body faces is a lack of togetherness. As I was saying earlier, the high school experience is described as this amazing time, the best schooling years of someone’s life even. At reunions everybody knows everybody, and they are all reflecting on the amazing times they had 10, 20, even 30 years ago. I have been left unsatisfied with my high school experience, and the more I thought about it the more it kept coming back to the lack of togetherness. Whether it is pep rallies, special events put on by the Class of 2024, and more, I believe I can make high school the experience that everybody says it is. As class president, I will ensure that 30 years from now, everybody will be able to look back on their high school experience and say, “Remember that time when…” and they just keep listing off great memories.

Vice President Candidates

Patrick Zwiller

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I want to be an officer because I want to better my school. I would plan to make Saint Joe better in two ways. The first way would be to give my time to better the school to non-students. This would be to help at open house, or to give my all into helping teachers. The main way to better my school is to help students. I believe I can succeed at making student life better because I am in a wide variety of clubs. Knowing a large range of different social groups and the needs of those groups puts me in a position to help.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

I think an officer should be in a wide variety of clubs so the person is not focused on one group of people in the school. However this person should not be in too many clubs so their time can be focused on being an officer and helping out students who may want to bring something to the student council. I think I would be a great officer candidate, because of the variety of clubs I am in, my drive to succeed, and my willingness to listen. I want to be the best person for this job if I am selected to show people their vote was not wasted. I am outgoing and I’m not afraid to put ideas on the table. However, I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong and let someone take over the job if they are better suited for it.

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

I think students’ biggest challenges are being unheard about homework and flex. I feel most students have become to depend on flex, and the schedule now has taken most of the schools flex away for teacher meetings. This different scheduling can be a large inconvenience to students, especially the ones with larger families which are most families here. To end school early or to not be matched up with schools around us, as students have siblings, and when the school schedule doesn’t meet even though some schools are in the same diocese we still don’t work together to match schedules even though the Catholic faith supports large families.

Yuryanna Pimentel

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I am an extroverted person. I love being around people, and I find it easy to make connections with them quickly. Tutoring at the grade school allowed me help the younger kids. Being able to be that role model for them is something I cherish. I want to run for office because I want to be that reliable person for the students at Saint Joe. High school is not easy. But if it is possible to bring a smile to a students face, I will take that chance. I believe I could help form connections among the student body, and in turn, bring a positive atmosphere to school.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

I think the officer should be humble, and always searching to make saint joe better. They are a leader, however they do not control their colleagues. Instead, they welcome the ideas and see if they can make it into a possibility. They should also be kind and welcoming. I see myself contributing to this because I am open minded. I love listening to students ideas, and I would encourage them to approach me whenever they feel the need to.

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

One of the biggest challenges is burnout and mental health. Especially in athletics. I myself have struggled with this, and it is tough. It is something I do not think is talked about enough.  We have long school hours on top of practices, and the balance is hard to find. I would love to see if we could bring in student-athletes playing collegiately and sharing their stories. Or have break rooms that the students could enter in before their practices to relax and reset from the day. I think this would bring all of the athletes closer together. 

Tom Farrell

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I want to be an a officer of my class because I have never had a big role in what my class has done and I wish to change that. I want to be more involved in the student body than i already am, and the best way for me to do that currently is get involved with student council. I also feel like I share like minded ideas with the student body that I wish to bring forward and hopefully implement into the school.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

The role of a representative should look like someone who shares in the main ideas of the student body of their class and is active in fighting to get the feelings and needs of the students into action. I see myself contributing to this leadership team by doing just that, talking to the students to see what they really need to change to be able to grow how they are meant to be.

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

What I believe to be the biggest challenges to our students these days is the minorities of the School, Like non-Catholics and the LGBTQ+ community. The challenges i’ve personally talked to them about are people of the Catholic community not being accepting or outright outcasting because they are different or not part of their religion, even though they believe in a religion that accepts everyone. I will help these students by being the force that brings these issues to the administration and be persistent with bringing problems that need to be fixed and not stopping until they are. 

Secretary Candidate

Elliot Mark

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I want to be an officer because I feel like I have a good grasp on my classes views and wishes in the student council. I have enjoyed the last year as secretary and I want to continue this work with the bigger and more involved junior year.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

The role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should uphold the views of the school and their class. They should be approachable and welcoming to all opinions and people in order to help the administration and council better officiate events and an environment where everyone is heard and accepted. I see myself contributing to this team by bringing the views of those around me and those who don’t always get a place to speak their mind..

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

I believe the biggest challenges facing the students at our school is a feeling of unity and community. Oftentimes it feels as though there is a disconnect between teachers or administration and us, disagreements or just a misunderstanding. I can help by being a bridge, meeting with and having an easier platform to meet with those who make decisions here and I am not going to shy away or not speak my voice.

Colin Blumentritt

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I want to be a secretary because I am good at making plans, lists, and schedules for upcoming events and ect, that involve time.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

I would be taking notes on people opinions about the biggest challenge of saint joseph high school. I would try my best to make people feel more included about their religion with the help of the VP and P. Mostly I would be contributing my thoughts and opinions and recording people’s responses about the problem I address.

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

The biggest challenge that we are facing is that there are people that do not feel included in our school. There are the people that are in financial need, there are the super rich people and then there’s the people that are just the average student. I feel like it makes a big barrier between them. I think it’s hard for some people that are not Catholic or Christian that they feel forced to learn our faith. Yes, I understand the fact of being an evangelist is super important to the school, but if there are people that come from a Buddhist, Hindu or any other religion besides catholicism they should not have to pay extra to come to Saint Joseph high school. If our high school is all about inclusion they should not have to pay more because of what they believe in and I do believe that they should be aware of the Christianity but not forced.I am a Catholic myself but I feel like other peoples voices need to be heard and not suppressed by people with different views.

So overall the main problem is people not getting heard and I will help them get heard even without them having to be noticed so there is not any judgment.

The way I would solve this problem is to let people know that they won’t be judged for who they are and what they come from. They can say their thoughts without anyone judging or having a bad thought about them. The way I would do this is to have the representatives gather some people in the hallway and express their thoughts without any recording or anything, just a poll with an anonymous name about any topic. It could be about the simplest things like Adidas versus Nike, all the way to talking about division of religion that the school can cause by not being open minded to others opinions.

William Westberry

1. Why do you want to be an officer or representative of your class?*

I personally believe that the school can be improved a lot, I see many things everyday that could be fixed. This includes such as teacher, and student communication, student help, and assignment help, etc. I believe many of these factors can be improved, and I want to start to help others, and begin my journey to assist others in that. I want to run as an officer to help the student body grow, and become stronger than it ever has before. I want the communication to be stronger with students, and staff, and for students to stand up for themselves more.

2. What do you think the role of an officer or representative at Saint Joe should look like? How do you see yourself contributing to this leadership team?*

I believe that the role of an officer, or representative at Saint Joseph High School should be well competent in their position within the council. I believe that they should consist of characteristics such as strictness, maturity, competence, and devotion to their rank or role within the Student-Government Body. Personally, I am very well experienced within leadership positions in my past, and I want to use that experience to help Saint Joseph High School become stronger in any way shape or form.

3. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the students at our school today? How will you help the student face these challenges?*

I believe that many challenges students face at our school regularly depend on the communication of our students, and staff, the student-assignment help, and bullying. I will help students face these challenges by abiding to my role as secretary in order to spread awareness, and explain my ideas to the other council members to make a change in these everyday problems.