Freshman Elections
By Addison Mehl
Student Life
The freshman class of 2026 were ready to finally become part of Pacifica. We had gone through freshman transitions, orientation, and the dedication ceremony, but now it was time to get involved. We joined sports teams, auditioned for the musical, and volunteered at retreat. But one of the most exciting ways to get involved for us freshmen was running for freshman representatives in ASG.
Last month, on August 25th, the freshman class of 2026 gathered in our chapel to hold this year’s freshman elections. Excitement and nerves filled the air. With Mr. Sims' encouragement to take it easy and not overthink it, our freshman class came prepared with purposeful, thought-over speeches. Well…most of them. But one of our new freshman representatives, Callum Ganz, showed us that on-the-spot speeches can take you a long way.
This week I interviewed a few of our candidates to see what they thought of the election process. Getting up there may have been stressful and out-of-the-comfort-zone for some students, but for Callum Ganz, getting up there was “a blur.” But what he does remember is that “the freshmen elections were really close. There were some super great speeches, and [pertaining to his own, improvised speech] possibly, let’s call it a ‘creatively and cleverly improvised’ speech that was definitely written out beforehand that I may have or may not have remembered. All in all, it was a blast.” Sure, Callum, sure. Samuel Roberts, also one of our freshman representatives, explained the experience as “fun, and not stressful at all.” He went on to say that “it was cool how they made it easy to get involved, even as a freshman.” ASG is only one opportunity for freshmen to get involved, and an important one. Our six freshmen representatives were placed into their committees (Campus Activities–Jenna Kim, Tselot Lemma, Aurora Malerba, Callum Ganz; Financial Advisory Board–Samuel Roberts; Spiritual Life–Addison Mehl).We had nine students run for freshman representative this year. The crowd of freshman students in the chapel during elections was very supportive, cheering on everybody who walked up to the podium, and providing encouraging affirmation after they had given their speech.
Not only did the candidates receive encouragement from the audience, but they also received encouragement from each other. Jenna Kim says, “I think, before, I was really nervous, but once I got up there, and around the other candidates, I felt very encouraged to speak. One thing that really stuck out to me was the other candidates’ speeches, and how well they voice the goals and characters of the speaker.” Not only were the candidates prepared and enthusiastic about the challenge they were taking on, their speeches mirrored this. They were well-thought out and spoke to the freshman community through voicing their goals and opinions. Clare Younger, one of our candidates said, “the speeches stood out to me the most because just hearing everyone talk about their ideas was fun!” Our freshman got an opportunity to share what they wanted to experience at Pacifica over the next four years, and in doing so all of our nine candidates proved themselves as hard-working, outgoing leaders. The Class of 2026 is in good hands.