Girls challenge tradition by running for social chair positions

Grace+Hafner%2C+junior%2C+and+Sawyer+Riedl%2C+sophomore%2C+are+running+for+social+chair+positions%2C+breaking+away+from+how+the+positions+are+typically+held+by+senior+boys.+

Allison Schuster

Grace Hafner, junior, and Sawyer Riedl, sophomore, are running for social chair positions, breaking away from how the positions are typically held by senior boys.

The Executive Board Election, with voting beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 22, has more diverse candidates than ever before as two girls from different grades, Grace Hafner, junior, and Sawyer Riedl, sophomore, take up the race for Student Council Social Chairs. If they win, they’d be the first social chairs that are not both seniors and two girls in the position since five years ago.

They face two traditional duos of male juniors. Campaign promises include a new push to include girl’s sports while still focusing the same amount of attention on boy’s sports.

Since the school year began in August, Hafner and Riedl have known that they wanted to run for the Social Chair positions. They initially got the idea at the 2016 Freshmen Orientation when Athletic Director Mr.Jones handed them the microphone.

“Sawyer and I were DJ-ing and just going crazy dancing, sweating our butts off,” Hafner said.

According to Hafner, a teacher at the orientation asked Mrs.Phillip why aren’t those girls the social chairs. After Mrs.Phillip told Hafner and Riedl, it got them thinking and their campaign started that day.

“We love our school and we couldn’t think of a better way to be involved,” Riedl said.

They don’t consider their unique candidacy to be an advantage or a disadvantage. They don’t believe the election should have anything to do with the fact that they’re girls. It’s because of their student council experience, commitment to school spirit, and dedication to the school that they think they are most qualified for the job.

“At the student council meetings, as a newcomer freshman, I was welcomed especially by these two. And they always make really good contributions to ideas,” said Lauren Hughes, freshman.

Both candidates have been a part of student council and see it as their primary strength.

“My mom was like you need to mention that you have the experience because none of the other candidates do,” Hafner said. “I’ve said both of us have been on student council our entire high school experience…we know how it works, we’ve seen the inside look at social chairs in the past.” 

The last few years Hafner and Riedl both watched and worked closely with the current social chairs, Will DeAngelis and Charles Zayed, seniors. Social chairs aren’t traditionally girls and are never, as long as Activities Director Mrs. Phillip can remember, from different grades. There has only been one year in which the social chairs have been girls in the past fourteen.

“I’ve worked here for fourteen years and I can honestly only…remember that one pair,” Mrs.Phillip said.

Some students are choosing not to vote for Hafner and Riedl because of the fact that Riedl isn’t a junior; however, this has not deterred the candidates. 

They taped 810 pieces of gum and around 2,000 pieces of candy to tags. Taking advantage of all available social media, they use twitter, instagram, and particularly snapchat. Constant comedic snapchat stories are their go-to campaign strategy.

The two specifically stated that, if elected, they plan on bringing more attention to girl’s sports. They stress that they still want to focus on the boy’s sports as well, but they feel that not enough people attend or even know about girl’s sporting events. Hafner and Riedl already reached out to Varsity athletic representatives to talk about what they can do.

Although they would both be disappointed if they don’t get the role of social chairs, they will both still run for Student Council Senate because of the love they have for their school. 

“Go big or go home,” Hafner said.