Minnie here through Gigis account!! Thanks to my awesome Campaign Manager for letting me use her laptop (and room) (and Facebook account). THIS IS THE 3rd Q and A!!!!! WAHOO!! If you have time this Friday afternoon, tune in to watch it! Today we are discussing WHY THE PRESIDENT NEEDS EXPERIENCE, INVOLVEMENT IN COMMITTEES AND THE ONE-CUT POLICY. TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO: Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be hosting the 3rd Q and A and today’s topics include why the President needs experience, getting people involved with committees and the one-cut policy. This is a lot of ground, so let’s just jump right in! Anon student: 1. Why are you putting so much emphasis on the fact that youre the only experienced candidate? You ran last year with 0 experience. I think President and Secretary require very different qualifications. When I ran for Secretary, I was very qualified for the job. I was the Vice-President of the cancer society, I was the chair for the Kids Walk for Kids with Cancer, I was and still am a varsity member of the Speech and Debate Team. I was organized and wanted to facilitate Cabinet activities rather than lead them, and I was capable enough to do that. But this year I’m running for President and the qualifications for this job are very different. Rather than helping Cabinet get things done, I’d be the person who put ideas on the table. I’d be the person who represented the entire Cabinet to the administration. I would lead our meetings. I would be the person other Cabinet members went to, asking if something was feasible, asking how something would affect the student body. I can’t imagine being that person and not having been a part of Cabinet before. By the time I got over the learning curve, we’d already be into half the year. Furthermore, I wouldn’t know what to say—I wouldn’t know how things would affect the student body, I wouldn’t know what tried and failed, or what tried and worked. I have the advantage of having a close relationship with the administration, so when it came down to me representing Cabinet or the student body, the administration would already trust me knowing that I’m consistent and doing it for the right reasons. They would know where I’m coming from, because they already know me, and this advantage directly affects you because someone who everyone knows has the honesty, experience and dedication behind them represents you. Senator Tabrez Alam: 2. Although I appreciate your efforts in trying to get more students involved in the schools student administration, how exactly would you provide the incentive for people to join? I do not believe that simply expanding committees and their powers is the most viable method of promoting student involvement if the students themselves arent too motivated in the first place. Furthermore the expansion of a central bureaucracy has almost always led to inefficiency and an inability to function as a single cohesive unit to work on behalf of the student body. What is your take on this? This won’t be a bureaucracy! The committees I’m proposing are a blood drive committee, an Art and Film Gala Committee, and a Travel Committee and that’s just from now. We’ll probably end up adding more. In addition, I’m going to create a structured Advisory Board. These committees will be completely independent of Cabinet and they’re so diverse and don’t require that much effort, I hope they’ll be appealing like the Nutritional Council was! I plan to continue strengthening this council, but in the fall we had dozens on dozens of applications and I think that we can easily obtain those numbers in these committees, which will be catered to an even more diverse audience. And Nutritional Council has gotten things done! From better snacks in the vending machines like fruit and welches to more toilet paper, it’s going to help cater Earth Day and the music festival coming up. And next year, it will bring in even more success! So given how well this Committee worked, I can’t imagine that the others won’t work as well. Also, let’s not forget that the two primary Senators and the Cabinet newsletter will increase representation and awareness of opportunities. Plus, I really believe that the Constitutional town hall meeting every fall will kick off the spirit of involvement. Plus, the events that I’m planning, like an Art and Film Gala as well as a Diversity Week can hopefully inspire to get people involved behind the scenes, but even they don’t, the committees themselves offer a lot of reward for a small commitment, which is perfect for the people who have a voice and great ideas but not a lot of time. Stage crew member Jenny Guarino: What are you planning to do about the one-cut policy? You didn’t mention it at all in your platform. Here’s the thing. Cabinet really tried for this one, we tried to bump up the cut number to five, but it just didn’t work and it’s not a battle that would have been wisely picked, for a few reasons. First is that any person who has one cut and it’s erroneous can clear the cut and the second they hand in the cut correction form to their teacher, they have done everything they need to do and as far as they know, their privileges are no longer suspended. So if today a student has suspended privileges because of one cut, then the student hands in the form on Monday and they’re back to normal and they can have their special permission classes just like every other privilege. If they did, however, actually cut, then all the student has to do is serve the detention. And when we brought up the second situation, the administration just didn’t have any sympathy for people who wanted more opportunities to skip class. Guys, I’m totally with you on this. Last year, I actually cut a few times—granted, I cut gym to study for AP Human Geography and I’m not embarrassed or nervous to admit it because like everyone else I made mistakes and I learned from them and I have come to the conclusion that detention isn’t worth it and if I’m going to be a leader of our student body, I might as well set the standards. But that doesn’t mean I don’t relate—I do, I’ve been there just like everyone else has. But I have to admit, I can see the logic behind not wanting to make cutting any easier for some students, especially since it’s in the students’ best interest not to cut, and the policy doesn’t negatively affect anyone after they’ve cleared their cuts and served their detentions. Oh, and also—for uptight teachers who refuse to clear your cuts—go talk to Mr. Kalin or Ms. Buckley. If you have a semi-good record behind you and you can provide evidence you were In class, you’ll likely be granted amnesty. And if that still doesn’t work, come talk to me and we will figure it out!
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 21:04:18 +0000
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