Facing a dearth of competition for the upcoming HSSC elections, the Quill and Scroll Club will be hosting a mandatory open meeting in the auditorium for the high school class next Monday. Run by Quill and Scroll executives Joanne Lee (12) and Andrew Ham (12), the meeting will involve speeches delivered by the candidates running for executive president, project coordinator, treasurer, and public relations officer, as well as a debate between Minsung Kim (11) and Eugene Jang (10) who are running for the secretary position. Though four out of five positions are currently uncontested, those in the HSSC hope the open forum will serve to increase participation for next year’s elections.
“We made a great amount of effort to advertise our upcoming election through social media and the Daily Bulletin. Besides these efforts, we also modified the HSSC constitution so anyone with a year of leadership in any club position could run,” said Kendall Sadler, HSSC adviser. “We have reached out to the middle school and will continue to keep them informed.”
According to Andrew, the candidates in the open forum will discuss topics ranging from vision for the HSSC as well as new ideas for the school. In particular, Minsung and Eugene will debate each other while moderated by Joanne and Andrew in a meeting the high school is required to attend. Other club meetings set to take place on Monday will be cancelled to prevent potential conflicts. However, even as the Quill and Scroll will offer a debate, concerns remain as to the four uncontested candidates.
“I definitely want to see more competition,” said Diana Lee (12), senior class secretary. “I feel like the current uncontested candidates would win a contested election if they were qualified, so I hope there are more actual elections in the years to come. Often times, those in the HSSC end up working as five teammates, so elections would also be an effective way for candidates to discuss how they might work as a team and showcase their experience.”
Both secretary candidates have previous HSSC experience. Minsung has two years of experience as the sophomore and junior class secretary respectively. Eugene was the freshman class secretary, and filled in as the executive class secretary this year. According to Ms. Sadler, rising freshmen, along with the rest of the high school class excluding seniors will be allowed to vote in the election. Voting will be conducted digitally through Moodle, and the results are expected around late April.