By: Bailey Spitz and Hadassah Reich (11th Grade)
Thursday night, Hebrew Academy officially kicked off the 2020 student council elections with the release of the candidates running for office. This year sets seniors Mary Berkowitz and Yosef Fruhman against one another for the position of President, while 11th grader Emmanuel Barkagan will face off against senior Danelle Levi for Vice President. This year’s race may prove to be one of the more interesting contests in recent years, with most positions fully contested and the additional anomaly of a fully virtual campaign and election process.
See full list of candidates below.
Next Thursday, the student body will vote on a variety of positions, such as Class Representative, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President, and President. Once elected, the members will work with Head of Student Life Morah Twito to plan for the year.
Although the responsibilities of the council will differ while the high school remains online, their goal will be to maintain a sense of normalcy through activities and to help keep the high school community united.
“I think the student council will be stronger this year than ever before. Having Morah Twito at the helm, we know that great things are going to be happening,” said Assistant Principal Dr. Lieber. “This is not going to be easy, but if anyone can do it I believe it will be our student council”
This year’s election process will be one like no other. Without the chance to socialize with people outside of their own class, candidates may face challenges campaigning. Student voters also face this issue on the other end. The freshmen have little connection to the upperclassmen, and will have to cast their votes based on name and speeches. As the biggest grade in the high school, their vote will be crucial and especially difficult to achieve.
Senior Yosef Fruhman has two prior years of experience on the student council, and sees the difference as he prepares to run for President.
“In terms of the election there are really two main differences: one, we don't have a building, and two, the freshmen have the vote,” Fruhman said, referring to the fact that this year’s freshman class is the largest in the high school. “Because of Coronavirus and the whole zoom school situation we haven't really been able to have that much interaction with the freshmen so it's definitely going to be different.”
Many freshmen claim they will vote for who they feel is the better candidate, especially since they do not know most of the candidate so well.
“I will vote for whoever will have great ideas for the high school and will instill them,” said Sarah Posner (9th).
With the drastic change in elections, the race to victory is going to be a greater struggle than ever before.
Stay tuned to the Warrior Word for full election coverage and results throughout the week.
2020 Student Council Candidates:
9th Grade Class Representative:
- Chana Stiefel
- Samantha Pantoja
10th Grade Class Representative:
- Moshe Dov Lachs
Secretary:
- Shoshi Stein
Treasurer:
- Robert Zohar
- Joel Kamhazi
Vice President:
- Emanuel Barkagan
- Danelle Levi
President:
- Mary Berkowitz
- Yosef Fruhman
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