Election posters lined the hallways throughout much of March and April, when Student Government (StuGo) Body Elections took place. Some posters dripped with cheesy puns, while others seemed almost too serious and mature for high school. The posters and candidate speeches are tangible symbols of the time, money, and sweat spent in the election process by each candidate.

Out of 15 students who campaigned this year (including freshmen, sophomores, and juniors) eight won a spot in next year’s StuGo. Historically, only seven students have been elected into positions. Two candidates nearly tied in votes this year, causing StuGo to create an eighth position to accommodate any error in the counting process.

The process begins with each candidate receiving an informational packet. Students must meet the grade requirement and collect signatures from 10 percent of the student body (almost 300 students).  Around this time, electoral posters appear seemingly overnight in every corner of the school. “Vote for OATprah” and “The Most Interesting Man” were among the appeals presented.

Posters were not the only method of campaigning, though. For junior class president Alec Cwiakala, “one of the biggest things was social media. It really helped me show everybody that I was running.”

Cwiakala, as well as others, used Twitter and Instagram. Campaign tweets included an encouraging advertisement from junior Aamir Patel, “Everyone tomorrow should vote for the most interesting man at perry, @Cwiakala_MLB for elections! I mean he has inside jokes with strangers!”

Candidates also write traditional speeches and with the help of the TV Productions class, film them in late March.

“I had a very unique speech that I felt could reach different types of people so that helped,” junior Amanda Gomez states. “I decided to do a speech full of food puns because I think puns are cheeky and cute.” They were very cute, Amanda.
Other students opted for the humor route, too. Freshman Aaron Clouse says “I dressed up as Ron Burgundy — I had his moustache and hair. It was great; I made references to the movie [‘Anchorman’].”

Second hour classrooms across campus watched these election videos during conference on April 2. StuGo provided classroom teachers with a list of all 15 candidates, along with an orange scantron which evoked memories of standardized testing. Students received their voting material and chose up to five candidates by bubbling in “A” next to each candidate’s corresponding number.
After counting the votes, StuGo informally released the results. The three candidates who received the most votes interviewed for president, vice president, and a position of their choice.

Sophomore Olivia Thompson (OATprah) received the role of president alongside sophomore Tarin Sanford as vice president with freshman Aaron Clouse as Spirit Commissioner.