Name: Georgia Panitz

Grade next year: 12th

Why would you be a good candidate for this position?

I think I would be a good candidate for school-wide president because I have been a dedicated member of community council for my entire high school and middle school career, and I have always been willing and able to offer my help to ensure that all council sponsored events are successful. I know what needs to be done in order to make certain events happen, such as who to contact for approval, what is needed for the event, and how to get all of Council’s members involved and motivated so that things happen in a timely and orderly fashion. Throughout my three years in high school as a member of Council, I have made a concerted effort to help as much as I can with all council sponsored events and participate actively during all of our council meetings. I have helped with numerous concession stands, events such as movie night, assisted as a part of the snowball decoration committee and helped set up for the event each year, helped in planning and setting up for the haunted house, and sold candy grams every lunch period I was available. While last year’s Woodstock event did not happen, I helped a lot with the planning and preparation for that as well. I always look forward to council meetings and genuinely enjoy the discussions and efforts which lead to fun events for the student body and community. I have made an effort during all my years on council to reach out to students, whether it be asking people about their opinions on some of council’s ideas, or coming up with the idea to post council updates each week in the 2018 Facebook group in an effort to make sure my peers could be more informed about what is going on in council and have input.

What have you done for the Hackley Community?

I have contributed to the community by being an active member of Community Council for the past three years and have offered my help and ideas during meetings, as well as helped at all council sponsored events. I have also attended sporting events, music performances, and plays to support my peers and their hard work. During my years on the hilltop, I have also been a member of Hackley’s Varsity Swimming team, a part of community service groups such as Soup Kitchen, a writer and page editor for The Dial, and a member of band and chamber ensembles. Every group and team I have been a part of I have tried to contribute something in the hopes that my efforts in partnership with others would improve life at Hackley.

What are your goals if elected?

While I feel that Council has done a great job this year, this being one of our most successful years yet, I still feel that there is room for further improvements. While Council’s event planning has been successful, I feel that we can plan more events for the student body. I think it would be amazing to implement a system similar to the Middle School’s Hive system, but organized by grade, and have events throughout the year among grades for points. Our end of the year field day would be even more fun as a result because I think people would be more invested and excited to participate in contributing points so that their grade could win the competition for the year. As a part of this new spirit system, Council would host events and activities during break and community times throughout the year as fun things for everyone to get involved in and be a part of which I think could be a great new Hackley tradition. In order to make these things happen, I would implement new organization methods so every member of Council is aware of what is going on and what their part is in making things happen. I think it would be helpful to create a calendar and Google Drive sheet which indicates when dates for events are, when people need to complete tasks by, forms for students to complete if they wish to present an event, and a place to sign up to present their ideas. This would help members stay on top of things and complete their tasks on time, therefore allowing council to be more efficient. I also think we should try to fundraise more by running more concession stands, and also charging students a small fee to go to events like the Color Run or Woodstock (but not Snowball), because with more funds we have more flexibility and ability to plan events. Overall if I were elected I would love to help spearhead a new spirit system as well as implement new organization and communication efforts so that council can plan more fun events for the community.

Name: Patrick Walker