Student Council held its 2012-2013 officer elections on March 14. Seven candidates ran for officer positions.

Winners were announced at the end of the day:

President – Erik Solorio
Vice President – Maysa Daoud
Secretary – Darleen Bequette
Treasurer – Brandon Van Buren
Historian – Mackenzie Brown

Taylor Jackson (vice president), Kaitlyn Pries (secretary) and Kirby McClain (historian) also ran for election. Five students ran in a cabinet together. Solorio, Daoud, Pries, Van Buren and Brown called themselves the Dream Team.

They entered the election with confidence because of their experience. “We knew we would be strong because we’re all current members of the STUCO board,” Daoud said.

Due to miscommunication, the candidates were initially given one day to campaign. The candidates persuaded Activities Director Bob Hebrank to extend campaigning.

“It was really hard because we had planned to campaign every day for the week of elections but then we found out it was not allowed,” Brown said.

There was only one strategy the team used to successfully campaign themselves as a group.

“We just worked really hard to reach out to every social group in the student body and not focus on one group,” Daoud said.

“It was really intense because when there were two people running for a position, we all went out of our ways to campaign and we found out the rules and felt screwed,” Daoud said.

Candidates from all sides scrambled around campaigning. Posters were hung up all around the school; candy, stickers and T-shirts were also passed out.

“People were calling it dirty because there were so many people helping us campaign,” Brown said.

The candidates received endorsements from current student council officers. Friends of the candidates sent out texts and tweets to help support their candidates.

“It was a close race and a lot of people worked hard to get their positions. Although one of us lost, we’re still going to work close together and include everyone on making decisions,” Daoud said.