At State High, schoolwide elections are held every year for the positions of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and parliamentarian. The students in these positions serve as a connection between students and administrators.  

The winners of the schoolwide elections were declared on Fri., April 28. There were seven candidates for the five positions; most of the candidates ran unopposed, while the vice president position faced competition. 

The winners discussed what their future roles will look like, along with their motivations and goals. 

Parliamentarian:

Anna Razzano is a current junior and is entering her first year as a parliamentarian. “I just read the Constitution; our school’s constitution. And then whenever their [Student Government] main decision interferes with the Constitution, I decide whether the final ruling is constitutional or not,” Razzano explained.

Razzano is involved in the school community and wanted to expand her involvement by joining student government.“I’ve done Leadership Council for a while, and I was like ‘I might as well run for student government’ and just get involved. I really like having conversations about the school.”

Razzano elaborated on her goals for the upcoming year. “My goal is to get more student voices out there,” as well as, “Get SCASD more united.” Later she shared the motivations behind her goals. “COVID, because my freshman year was the COVID hybrid year where when school was half in-person half online, and it felt really disconnected there because I didn’t really know half my class.”

Treasurer: 

Bella Gallo is a current junior, and this will be her first year as treasurer and in student government. She participated in Leadership Council last year — the prerequisite for becoming a member of student government — and wanted to become further involved in the school community.

Describing her future role, she shared, “As I understand it, for fundraisers, I’ll be in charge of counting the money and working with all of that. I’ll be in charge of authorizing spending for the club, and just generally helping the rest of the club.” 

Gallo also discussed her goals as a part of the student government. “I didn’t really know what Leadership Council was until this year, so I’d really like to just get some more awareness out there and try to make it a more public thing. Also, there are one or two things, like tissues in classrooms, that I really think should be prioritized, so just figuring out how to best make that happen.” 

Secretary:

Raya Wolyniec is a current sophomore and returning as secretary. She described her role, “My main thing is just taking notes really during meetings with Mrs. Tobias or Leadership Council or the meetings we have at lunch. I also make advertisements for stuff, like the events that we do, and take care of attendance. My main job this year, [which] was actually really important at the end of the year, was going over attendance and seeing who was qualified to be able to run for student government because it’s pretty important.” 

Already having experience in the position, Wolyniec has a unique perspective on what the school needs and her goals are based on what she has learned in the past year. “My main goal is bringing the school together more. I was a little more ambitious last year than this year with my goals, but I think the main problem right now is that a lot of us are divided or feel that way. I think having more events where we bring students together to have fun is my goal.”

Continuing on this idea, she shared, “I have heard a lot of complaints from students about feeling a disconnect from the administration and student government. Most people don’t even know what [the] government is or have never met Laura Tobias. So, I think just seeing that and seeing how people don’t know what anything is or who anybody is in the school is a problem.”

Vice President:

Luca Snyder is a current sophomore and is returning to the student government for the 2023-2024 school year as vice president. He previously served as treasurer, so he has experience working with the returning student government officers, as well as interacting with the student body. His main goals as vice president are to increase involvement in Leadership Council, as well as streamline and expand the mental health summit.

“My main purpose in running is being able to revitalize leadership council because in years past there were about 100 people that would attend each meeting, and through COVID, things have slowed down a bit,” Snyder said, describing the importance of Leadership Council. “Leadership Council is really the main way that student government learns from the student population about what we need to do, and about what needs to be changed or what is good about our school environment.”

Snyder is also looking to expand on the Mental Health Summit offered this past winter. “Definitely in years coming we want to add more education on mental health first aid, but also on self-care through mental health. We also want to add a bigger education portion to the mental health summit.”

Snyder described the student government as similar to a team, with everyone working together. “So vice president really just takes on what the president delegates to them. They are the first line after the president so that really could look like a lot of things, like being the second in command when the president can’t fulfill a certain duty. Or it can just be a part of the delegation of tasks.” 

President:

Prithvi Narayanan is returning to student government as president for his senior year. He has been involved in student government, student senate, and leadership council throughout high school. These experiences culminated in Narayanan running for student government president.

“I ran because I wanted to make a meaningful impact in my community and be a voice for the students because many times we feel as though maybe our voices aren’t heard and that maybe students’ interests aren’t being put forth in the best way possible,” Narayanan stated. “That really pushed me to look to serve in various positions so that I can do my best to ensure that the students get the best and what they need to succeed.”

As president, Narayanan shared his goals with the other student government officers. He wants to increase Leadership Council involvement as well as improve communication between the student government and the student body. He shared, “We want to make sure that students know that their biggest advocate after their teachers and administration is student government. We really are there to make sure that if there’s anything that a student needs or any concerns that a student has, we are that resource that can help them.” 

Narayanan’s other big goal is to expand breakfast hours, so more students can utilize the free breakfast provided by the state. “I think it’s the greatest area of concern for students and I think we need to take the greatest advantage of this beautiful opportunity that the state has given to us. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has given schools in our state the opportunity to have free breakfast and I think students should be able to enjoy that to the fullest extent. Right now, we only have free breakfast offered from 8:00 to 8:35, and I don’t think that’s sufficient. A lot of students don’t think that’s sufficient. A lot of teachers also don’t think that that’s sufficient.  I think we as a school must recognize that nutrition comes first.”

Even with the school year concluding, there is still time to become involved with Leadership Council. If you would like to become involved with Leadership Council, meetings are held monthly during the school day. You can submit an application, or talk with a student government officer about joining.