Second Lead IP Establishing a Political Presence

Milestone dates that were previously set:
Exec Office:
Application Due April 30
Campaigning May 1-12
Speeches and Elections May 12

Class Captain

Application due May 15
Campaigning 23-5
Speeches and Elections June 5

How did it go?

From a political stand point, not very well. I was not successful in winning either election. In other sense it went really well. Like my title suggests it established me as someone who wanted to lead people my age. Instead of just saying I want to do it I actually tried doing it. There were some hurdles that had to be overcome but in total it was a good learning experience if anything else.

What would you do differently next time?

Well, there won't necessarily be next time because this is the end of high school. I may run during college but those leadership positions are very different from the ones in high school. More than anything I would practice public speaking, it is not my strong point. The only way to get better is by doing it, and I went out there and did it (but I forgot my notes). The posters were a hit and miss. Some people understood their meaning while the less politically savvy struggled to comprehend the phrases beyond their fundamentals. Seeing as we go to a school where students are, on average, smarter than students from other schools I assumed they would understand my campaign methods. They did not. I shed an invisible tear for the future of voting Americans.

What went well?

I enjoyed myself. Doing what I could with campaigning and speeches despite the critics, i thoroughly enjoyed putting myself out there for the world to judge me. If anything this was a confidence builder and I will come back to these types of things prepared for what is likely to happen.

Pros and Cons:

Pros: possibility of winning, making fun slogans, talking with students, practicing several aspects of leadership.

Cons: loosing, speeches, having politically illiterate classmates fail to understand posters.

What should be changed?

The dates for campaigning were the two weeks all juniors had AP testing. It made things extremely difficult to do because of that and it was apparent by the lack of campaigning during the executive elections. The elections relied to heavily on the speeches because of the missing campaigning.