Ninth grade
Marguerite Andrich — “Tall expectations, savvy ideas”
Why are you running?
“I am running for Vice President because I would like to demonstrate my commitment to being an active member of the Pine View class of 2020 and the PV student community in general. I believe I am a strong team player, and I’m eager to collaborate with others.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I think I’m uniquely qualified for this position due to my years of service work experience. I consider service to my school community as important as volunteer work in Sarasota. With regards to service work, I have two years of experience running my own organization, Bag Up the Love. Because of this I know how to budget money, fundraise, host events, and speak publicly. I also have experience sitting on the board of the Van Wezel Foundation, where I have watched adults model time management skills and fiscal responsibility.”
What new ideas will you bring to the table?
“Some ideas include a formal dance for our grade, a high school walk fundraiser like Peramathon, team building activities as a class, and a fundraising marathon competition (bake sales, car washes, etc.). My main goal is to come up with interesting ways to get the class involved, have fun, and raise money.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“If I win, I really hope to raise a lot of money in a really fun way for our class to encourage participation from all students. Ultimately, I would like to see our class succeed and become closer over our shared desire to make the class of 2020 the best it can possibly be.”
Lauren Andrews — “Be bright, vote right!”
Why are you running?
“I’m running for Vice President because I felt it was a perfect opportunity to help lead our class again after being treasurer this year. I’m excited to possibly play a larger role in the class office next year.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I have the experience of knowing exactly how class office works, which few of the others running have. My specific knowledge of money and fundraising from being Treasurer will help me work with our new president to plan and host the most profitable fundraisers and events possible.”
What new ideas will you bring to the table?
“I have several ideas for really fun and money-making events that the class office will be able to plan next year.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“If I win, my main goal would be to help make Sophomore year as fun and rewarding as possible for everyone.”
Waseh Khan
Why are you running?
“The reason I am running for class office is because I truly care about my class and want to better it for the future.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I am set apart from the other candidates due to the fact that I bring a wide variety of unique ideas to the table as well as an outgoing personality.”
What new ideas will you bring to the table?
“If the class of 2020 could host nonacademic events, we could take a portion of the profit or its entirety. The sky is the limit when it comes to this due to the wide variety of resources available on campus.
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“If I win I hope to unite the class and surpass fundraising goals so that we are on track for the coming years. I also would like to maximize the communication between the student body and class officers to allow for recommendations and ideas.”
Kaysha Kapadia
Why are you running?
“I’m running because I love organization and leadership. I’ve always been interested in class office, and I want to do as much as I can to help our class.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I’m different from other candidates because I was Vice President my freshman year, and I already know how everything works, making it very easy to continue and just evolve further.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“I understand the most important thing class officers do is fundraise. I hope to not only emphasize the fundraisers we have next year like Variety Show, but also carry over all the work our class has done freshman year with things like the soccer tournament. I want to listen to what our class wants and carry out all the events with as much organization as possible and with the addition of any new ones.”
Dominic Marhoefer – “Oh yes we did”
Why are you running?
“I am running because I feel we need more people to go to events and raise money for our class.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I think I can raise more money, and I am friendly toward everyone.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
Raising a lot of money and just honestly helping make Pine View and our class better for everyone.
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
I think that our main way of raising money for sophomore year is the Variety show. I think that I can put a performance that everyone likes — something new, creative and would raise a lot of money for our class.
Tenth grade
Javier Aramayo — “Javier: tough but fair”
Why are you running?
“I’m running because I think it’s a pretty cool position, and I like a position of responsibility. I think I could do a good job.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“What sets me apart from the other candidates is that I think I have great class spirit, and I can make class office fun and hold my responsibilities.”
What new ideas will you bring to the table?
“I think we should do more sport things and we can plan it better and we could help out more clubs.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“I hope to get the whole class more united because not a lot of people go to the actual events.”
Gopi Patel
Why are you running?
“I’m running because I love my class and because I wanna make a really good high school experience for everyone. I want us to meet our goals and have fun while doing it.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“My determination for making next year awesome. I’m gonna dedicate myself to the challenge to making everything awesome and getting enough money to graduate from the Van Wezel.”
What new ideas will you bring to the table?
“It wouldn’t be more bringing new ideas by explicating the students ideas through surveys to get more of a gist of what they want to do with fundraising.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“I hope to accomplish to make sure we graduate from the Van Wezel and get more people to come to events and unify the class.”
Connor Park — “Vote CP for VP”
Why are you running?
“I’m running for the Vice President of the junior class because I feel that I could really make an impact on this class and get the class where needs to be both in funds and fun.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“What sets me apart from the candidates is past experience. With my church, I’ve been a part of a youth group since seventh grade, and in that time I have helped with the planning of events — with fundraisers, with car washes, with everything they have been doing and some of the nonprofit activities as well.”
What new ideas will you bring to the table?
“One event in the past that was successful was a ping-pong tournament. I know we weren’t actually able to do that, and I hope that I can actually make it happen as well and an ultimate frisbee tournament and other things people are interested in.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“If I win, I hope to make us successful. I really hope to make his class fun. I know that a lot of the past events have been cool events and have been very well attended. I hope to make events that I know that people enjoy, and I will hopefully make them so that people are able to attend.”
Nabil Shariff — “Making memories with experience and passion
Why are you running?
“I believe that the current office isn’t effectively balancing the task of getting the money we need while creating memories.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I have worked for the class passionately for the past year from suggesting ideas, creating the community round up video, overseeing the elementary dodgeball game, and directing and producing our class act. I’ve shown that I care and am willing to put in work for this class.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“I would like to strike a balance where we’re making the money we have to but also making great memories and experiences as a class. This means taking calculated risks.”
Zoe McDonald — “I’m lovin it, vote Zoe for VP!”
Why are you running?
“I am running because in the next two years we are going to have to raise more money than our class has ever raised before. I want to make it really fun because we have Cobalt and graduation, and I want to make it fantastic.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I have some new creative ideas that I’d really like to see in the upcoming year. I am also very approachable. In the past I feel like we haven’t been able to share our ideas, so I want people to know they are welcome to come up to me and share any concerns they might have, things they’d like to see happen or ideas for just making it a better year.”
What new ideas will you bring to the table?
“I have a couple new thoughts for fundraising, mainly creative-type activities that high schoolers can do in groups.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“I’m really hoping that we can meet or exceed our fundraising goals. That’s my main concern.”
Eleventh grade
Chris Lind
Why are you running?
“I’m running because I realize after junior year that I really love class office. I really love representing my class, and I hope to continue the class moving in the upward direction that we currently are on.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“I think this one year experience as President helps me stand out, and I can use that experience to hopefully help the class out even more by being Vice President.”
What new ideas will bring to the table?
“So last year we really tapped into the younger kid market but coming into senior year I think that because we are so far ahead, that it is important that we have more fundraisers aimed at our class so that we can have a fun senior year.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“I want to basically continue what we are doing now. I would say that we are still leading and ahead of all the other classes in terms of money raised, so I just want to be able to continue that trend. I also want to have more fundraisers for the class.”
Christina Florendo — “She’s 5’2” but she’ll represent you”
Why are you running?
“I’m running for class office because I was an officer in freshman and sophomore year, and I fell in love with volunteering for our class. I ran last year and didn’t win, but I just want to be more involved with our class. I would love to make our class memorable with events like winning dodgeball two years in a row.”
What sets you apart from other candidates?
“The fact that I have a lot of volunteering experience with our class. Even though I wasn’t an officer this year, I still volunteered for our class because I loved doing it so much for two years. I have experience helping our class succeed to make sure that we will have enough money to graduate next year.”
What new ideas will bring to the table?
“I want to bring in new volunteering opportunities for us, like if we have a new senior hang out, like a senior kids night out. [I’d like to bring] more bonding experiences.”
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
“I just want to make sure that we earn enough money and that we don’t graduate with debt next year. Senior year isn’t supposed to be hard — it’s supposed to be easy and breezy. I just want to make sure that we have enough money to graduate earlier in May.”
Read about the students running for class office and learn more about them. Elections will be Friday, April 7, so keep visiting for more updates on the rest of the candidates from grades nine to 11.
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Story by ELLA HECHLIK, MANNY REA, MACKENZIE DYRDA, PARK DIETZ, and ANNIE HASSAN