Its election time! Island residents and political parties are gearing up for upcoming municipal elections on March 7, 2012. And the students of San Pedro High have just gotten their first dose on how a real election takes place and what all one needs to do to prepare for an election.
The election of a new student council is done every year and this year they got to do so in a different way. As part of the CXC Social Studies requirement, students were asked to conduct the election of the student council by integrating the election process of Belize into their simulated election.
There were two teams running for student council were The Youth United Party and The Youth Action Party. The Youth United Party consisted of Staisy Bradley for President, Jair Vasquez for Vice-President, Kleiner Ramirez for Treasurer and Ian Tzul for Secretary. The Youth Action Party consisted of Kimberly Carillo for President, Seleni Perez for Vice President, Christine Syme for Treasurer and Miriam Rodriguez for Secretary. All eight students are in their third year of High School Studies in the General Department.
Students had to go through most official election process including campaigning, nominations and finally Election Day. When asked how their experience has been, Kimberly Carrillo of the Youth Action Party stated that what it has mostly taught her and her team is to work as a team and to be prepared for anything and to prepare for the future. As for the Youth United Party candidates they all unanimously agreed that it has been a challenging yet fun experience as they had to make a lot of sacrifice, staying up late doing home work and preparing their campaigns.
The Youth United Party campaign slogan was “No Promises, Only Possibilities”, under which they held very successful campaigns and their plans included getting bicycle racks, beautification of the school campus and getting more palapas/shades for students to enjoy break/lunch time in a more comfortable manner.
As for the Youth Action Party, their main goals for the school are beautification of the school campus, obtaining school lockers for the students, addition of more extra-curricular activities including gardening and providing students with a better place to eat lunch.
On Thursday, January 19, 2012, nominations were held and candidates from both parties were officially sworn in at the vice-principal’s office. The student body got the opportunity to exercise their voting rights on Friday, January 20, 2012, as they headed to the polls to elect their new student council.
Coming out victorious at this first ever student council election was The Youth United Party; Staisy Bradley with 167 votes (President), Jair Vasquez with 157 votes (Vice-President), Kleiner Ramirez with 151 votes (Treasurer) and Ian Tzul with 149 votes (Secretary).
