Now that some of the Student Council Elections are over for this school year, it may be time to ponder over the more questionable aspects of the way elections are held. At Pine Crest, we always look for ways to enhance our school and the way our campus atmosphere functions. Shouldn’t we consider modifying the Stu-co election format?

First: The taping of the speeches. While this isn’t a major issue really, the standard, more conventional student council elections (or any sort of democratic election) are held where the candidates present their speech live, in front of their potential voters and classmates? That only makes sense.

Secondly: The judiciary committee questions for the candidates. Are some of these questions even necessary? A good example of an irrelevant question was the question posed to one of the candidates, which went somewhere along the lines of, “Who is your favorite philosopher and explain one of your favorite quotes of him/her.” In the past, these extraneous questions have never really allowed the students to get a clear picture of their classmates whom they are voting into a noble position- and now, they’re not even entertaining. After all, these candidates will represent the student body and make decisions, with the aid of faculty and administration, for the fun of the student body.

I suggest that we change this portion of the election so that students in the audience are able to ask relevant questions of their own, (possibly pre-approved by faculty) that really would allow the students to get a glimpse of what the candidate would offer during the next PC school year. A good question could be, “What plans do you have for improving the small percentage of kids who attend our athletic games?“  or “If you could make an event during homecoming week, what would it be and why?”

We should really consider altering our student council election format for the better. Overall, the current format is decent, but improving it would really give the students a greater opportunity to see their candidates in a better, more personal way.