Today at 12:35, replacing their normal agendas of morning meetings and school events, the High School Senate will be having a not-so-secret election for next year’s Senate Officers, voted by the Senate themselves. The election is not-so-secret because even though most have not heard of it, the election is not collectively hidden by the senators. It’s just that no one ever ask.

As the leadership section of the Senate, Senate Officers comprise the head of this important student organization. President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Communications Officer, and Secretary, these prestigious titles come with a responsibility. These 5 people can make or break the Senate under their term of office. With the departure of the seniors, a new group of leaders must be elected and it is with their leadership that the Senate can smoothly transition from one school year to another over the summer.

An internal election, at least 11 Senate Representatives and 3 Senate Officers will listen to 3-5 minutes made by senators that have put themselves up for candidacy for these five positions. Five positions, but technically only three are available; the position of President and Secretary has been won by default. There was only one applicant for each role. Although this may sound anti-competitive and anti-climactic, maybe it is important to know that the student officers elected last year all won by default as well.

For the different roles, we have Nam Nguyen (11) and Awua Buahin (10) vying for Communication Officer. Jin Sun Park (10) and Seyon Park (9) are both aiming for Treasurer, while Jonas Fiebrantz (11) and Michael Emblem (10) will be competing for Vice Presidency. The Secretary position has already been “unofficially” given to Kimberly Knaggs (9) and the top of them all, President of the Senate, to Duong Nguyen (11), although they too, have to make  speeches.

Though some may argue that normal high school citizens of UNIS should be able to vote on these positions instead of only the senators, good arguments have been made against this. Candidate Awua Buahin states that “we have a better background knowledge [on the candidates]” and therefore should be able to “make better decisions”, he said, citing the fact that everyone attends the same meetings and will know each other better than the normal student. Also, as these senators were chosen by their selective grade level students, their vote will represent the vote of the people.

As for the voting stage themselves, senate representative So Hee Jeong (11) speculates that there will be a huge battle for vice-presidency as both members were “already Student Officers”, and have already demonstrated their worth to the Senate over the span of the school year. Though it should be noted that Mr. Emblem is incumbent as Vice-President, therefore, he may have a slight advantage over Mr. Fiebrantz. As for the roles of Communication Officer and Treasurer, it really is a grey area that can’t be guessed without inside information.

Whatever the results may be, there is no doubt another group of highly capable and experienced leaders will be elected for next school year. The real question everyone should be asking is when will our new president makes it compulsory for everyone to tattoo SPQR on their right arm, you know, the old fashioned way.