The Ballots Are In, NMS Student Council Announced

By Eliza Hallabeck

All eyes were on the Newtown Middle School students who ascended the stage in the auditorium Friday, October 3, to inform the rest of their school why they want to be elected members of the Student Council.

From altering the cafeteria food to establishing a suggestion box in the school or raising money for local charities, eighth grade candidates for the Student Council promised to make this school year one the students at NMS will never forget.

“This campaign is not just about me,” said Mary Joe Rossi, who ran and won for the position of secretary for the Student Council. “It’s about us.”

There were 16 candidates running for the four different offices in the student council; president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Each office had four students who were running, and every student had to go through an extensive process to run, according to Linda Dale Mulholland, one of the three teachers who oversaw the application process.

By the end of the day on Friday the ballots were in and this year’s members of the Student Council were announced. Rachel DiVanno won the position of president, Matt Mossbarger as vice president, Mary Joe Rossi as secretary, and Lisa Klarides as treasurer.

The candidates had to give their speech three times in the auditorium on Friday. The first wave of students were all seventh graders, the second wave were a mix of seventh and eighth grade students, and the third wave were all eighth graders.

Before giving their speeches on Friday, the Student Council candidates met on Wednesday to practice and time their speeches before an empty auditorium after school.

“You’ve got to have a smiling face,” said Ms Mulholland to the students before they practiced their speeches on Wednesday. “You have to look very sincere.”

No student was told by the teachers what they should put into their speech, but the speeches were approved or turned down before they could say them Friday.

In order to make it to one of the four running spots for the Student Council, students who were interested had to submit a form, two letter of recommendation — one each from a teacher and a member of the community who is not a relative to the student, write a short personal essay, and participate in a brief interview with the advisors, Ms Mulholland, Nadia Papalia, and Rose Ann Beck.

Friday morning in before the last presentation of the candidates speeches, Ms Mulholland said she thought the students were doing a great job.

“I can assure you it is not easy to be up here, speaking before a large audience,” said Ms Mulholland at the opening of the speeches for the second group of middle school students.

In order to hurry the process, Ms Mulholland told the assembly that no clapping would happen between the candidates, but instead after the positions’ four candidates gave their speeches.

Each student’s speech had his or her own spin as to why that student would make a good student representative.

“Over and over again people promise what they can’t deliver,” said K.C. Condon, the first student to give his speech during the assemblies and who ran for president, “but I’m different.”

Sean Watkins, another contender for Student Council president, said he would show the council how to make a difference in the community.

Michelle Spenedda, who also ran for president, said she wanted everyone to know that she would take the job seriously, because a representative of the students at NMS is a serious job.

Rachel DiVanno, who won the position, said she spent a lot of time writing her speech and determining the qualities of a good president in general.

“I actually found an article in Parade magazine,” said Rachel between speeches in the auditorium on Friday, “and it listed the qualities in a good president. I read it and incorporated it in my speech.”

Qualities that all presidents should have along with the next president of Student Council is they should be organized and capable of accepting different ideas, said Rachel.

“Most importantly a president should be able to address the issues that you feel are important,” said Rachel to the audience during her speech.

After each of the four groups’ speeches, the students in the audience had the job of marking on a paper the name of the person they thought gave the most convincing speech. The papers were brought back to their teachers and placed in a manila envelope and handed in to be counted.

The announcement came at the end of the day, Rachel DiVanno, Matt Mossbarger, Mary Joe Rossi, and Lisa Klarides were elected as this year’s officers of the Student Council at NMS.