With elections wrapping up these past few weeks, many new officers have been put in office for the first time. Now that many aspects of school have gone back to normal, these newly elected presidents have big plans for their time in office.

Though the election process did look different this year, many elected officials were actually okay and even supported this new decision so the election can be more skill based rather than a popularity contest. They did this by incorporating an interview within the election to actually see a candidate’s leadership skills.

“I think the new interview process is a good way to avoid unqualified students getting into a position they aren’t qualified for,” Claire Blake ‘22, Student Association president said. “With the interviews, teachers can get a feel for who would do the best job at the position, and who isn’t running strictly to put on college applications.”

Many of the newly elected students discussed their goals for their upcoming year as president. Madelyn Zann ‘24 talked about how she looks forward to bringing more of her fellow classmates into class council.
“This upcoming year I would like to increase leadership capacity within our student body and have more people participate in our class activities.” Zann said. “I want to build communication and encourage acceptance and tolerance for the differences among us.”
Zann’s goal is pretty common throughout the classes, with Lilly Stidham ‘23, Class of ’23 president, also mentioning how one of her many goals for her presidency is to grow the council.

“Currently we only have like a dozen people helping out, but I’m confident that we can definitely get some more people interested in our council and I think that will go along with fundraising,” Stidham said. “Also, I’d like to raise about 30% of our budget by the end of fall.”
Blake however talked about how she’s looking forward to planning our first homecoming after the pandemic.
“As president of Student Association, I am super excited to plan and have a really fun homecoming after such a crazy year,” Blake said. “Homecoming and adopt-a-family are my favorite events planned by SA, and neither could be done the normal way this year, so I am looking forward to a nice transition back to normal festivities!”
Stidham also mentioned homecoming and how it is a big event for South and its students.
“I really am hoping that we get to do all of our activities for homecoming, I feel like that’s such a big event that brings South together,” Stidham said. “I feel like everybody was kind of upset that we didn’t get to do that this year, so I really hope that we can pull together a great spirit week and homecoming!”