Palm Beach Students Campaign, Prepare To Elect New Leaders-Top Student Officials To Sit On School Board
It’s a Presidential election year and there is also an important election taking place right here in Palm Beach County. The Palm Beach County Student Council End of the Year Banquet is May 24th, 2012 and county Student Council elections will be held during the banquet for the upcoming school year. The banquet, one of the biggest Student Government events of the year, will be held at the Borland Center in Palm Beach Gardens. The Student Government offices that the students and schools are running for include President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. There is also a Parliamentarian position and all running schools must complete a test and the school with the highest score wins. According to Jeanmarie McCann, Jupiter High School Student Government Advisor, “Each school that is running is required to do a skit, speech, and hand out all types of campaigning material. Not only does this give students an opportunity to see how a real campaign would run, but it’s also a fun event for everyone to enjoy.” At the end of the banquet student leaders do formal voting for each office and the winning schools are sworn in by the previous officers. 200 enthusiastic Student Government representatives from all over the county will attend this event.
Loran Cataldo and Holland Smith
Last year at the annual End of the Year banquet, Loren Cataldo and Holland Smith, both students at Jupiter Community High School, were elected as Palm Beach County Student Council Co-Presidents for this school year. They were sworn in to fulfill the duties of sitting as Student Representatives on the Palm Beach County School Board, running all of the County Council Meetings once a month and hosting the first County Council of the year on Constitution Day. According to Ms. Smith, “People around the county do not realize how crucial this organization is to have, this program is the best way to have students be involved and have a voice in our county. Student Government really does affect our student’s lives in a positive way.”
In September of 2011, at Jupiter High School, Ms. Cataldo, Ms. Smith and the Jupiter High School Student Government Association hosted the Constitution Day County Council presentation. Many important delegates came to this event from all over the state of Florida to speak to the Palm Beach County student council members. In addition to the delegates, Superintendent Bill Malone made an appearance to speak to the members as well. This first duty as County Co-Presidents was just a taste of what this position had to offer in the upcoming year. Ms. Cataldo said, “Not only does every student government organize activities and make differences in our schools, we also are very active in our community. The projects (school service, citizenship development, and community service) that we do are also entered in a state wide competition in February. Every year we have won in several categories and plan on carrying on our outstanding Palm Beach county legacy. Student Government has given us real world life skills that we will always have and use throughout our futures and careers.”
For more information please contact Ms. McCann at 561-745-3403 or Jeanmarie.mccann@palmbeachschools.org .
