School history was made during last Friday’s assembly, because the Student Body election debate was held with only female candidates, a first in at least 12 years. In the recent past, voters only knew about the candidates and what they stood for ten minutes before the election. They listened to the two-minute speeches and then promptly cast their votes, all in the same morning assembly.

Now, students are able to learn about the candidates and their goals at least a week before voting, so they have more time to think about their selections.  (In full disclosure, junior Cassidy Polga, the Editor-in-Chief of the Magnet, was the moderator of the debate, but The Magnet does not endorse any candidate.)

The debate was held as a question-and-answer forum, with questions submitted from students and Polga. The candidates had prepared for some questions, and others were a surprise. First up were the Vice Presidential candidates, juniors Whitney Peng, Maria Buxton, and Dolly Cupak. 

Cupak believes we have a strong community because, she said, “compared to public school, this place is so much better. We do tend to stay in groups, so we have this level of comfort.” Her plan to fix that is to have each grade plan a fun and social class trip to encourage different people to hang out with each other. Cupak would play the song “All Star,” from the movie Shrek, on the first day of school. New events that she would add would be glow-in-the-dark dances or sports games.

Buxton said, “Student leaders make it really easy for problems to be solved, especially in the sense for student government, you have students’ perspectives versus faculty perspectives. When those come together, solutions are much more versatile.” She stated that “we don’t have a strong sense of community here, even though… we always hear about the CIRCLE values… I don’t have the power to make everyone excited… but I do have the power to bring a positive attitude.” Buxton would play “Partition” by Beyonce or “Energy” by Drake on the first day of school. She would also hold monthly pep rallies.

Peng said, “I believe that student leaders have the obligation to strictly follow the student handbook, and thus they should be a role model for the whole student body.” She said, “There is a strong sense of community, because for two years, I’ve never seen anyone be left out or isolated. All I see is devotion in this community.” She would play “Happy Birthday” on the first day of school, because it was the first song she heard at our school. She would work to create a community service day, where everyone works to lend to a cause.

The candidates for Student Body President are juniors Camillia Liu, Parla Ozdelice, and Tira Xia.

Xia helps to run a charity, is the leader of the MacDuffie Chinese Students association, and is the PR representative of the junior class. She said that while there is a boarding and day student divide, “We don’t have to force day students and boarding students to be best friends, because each of us share different cultures, languages, and hobbies.” Xia said she would fix the problem at student orientations where people tend to divide into groups. Her most pressing concern is “the connection between students and the whole school.” Xia stated she has been the bridge between adults and students when planning the Spring Gala, and would be willing to solve issues again for the student body.

Ozdelice was the Vice President of the sophomore class, and has two years of class president experience outside of MacDuffie. An event that Ozdelice would plan to bring the student body closed together is more assembly games. She presented the idea that students playing run-down could be awarded special privileges on their birthdays.  She would also have student speakers give presentations in the morning. Ozdelice is concerned about the student body not being able to speak their minds. “When you have problems, I am going to send out surveys and find out what is the [biggest] problem,” she said. Ozdelice plans to work with both the administration and students is to represent the students and listen to the teachers.

Liu said that has been a leader in her elementary and primary schools; she is currently a leader of this year’s Run for Hope Race and a prefect. Liu said, “I do not think there is a divide [between boarding and day populations], but there are some issues. Boarding students have spent their whole day together, and day students come here for seven hours a day. I believe the community helps [to] naturally force everyone out of their [comfort] zones.” She would add a morning assembly on Thursday, because “spending more time learning about what’s happening in the community is important for all students,” she said. Her most pressing concern is the boarding-related issue involving the driving company Uber. “We do need to grant freedom to our boarding students. I am planning on establishing relationships with local companies to get discounts.”  Liu said she would present our issues to the administration for students who may not be willing to speak for themselves.