T-shirts, drinks, king-sized bars of candy, stickers, donuts and social media have become the tools of campaigns for ASB candidates in order to improve their image for the student body. In the eyes of some, creative marketing has changed the equity of the election’s democratic process to those who spend extra to sweeten the deal.

“I think that handing out smaller candies rather than whole meals and big servings of food makes it much more even for all the candidates. It seems much more fair in case a candidate wasn’t wanting to spend so much money on the interactive part of their campaign,” Bianca Lilly said.

Regulations regarding what materials candidates could campaign with were put in place after Activities Director Mr. Jesse Armas received feedback from students during the January session of Student Senate.

“During our session, we were split into three subgroups depending on our opinion for different topics. For example, there was one talking about whether we should limit a candidate’s spendings so that one candidate doesn’t feel superior than the other,” Student Senate member Alyssa Folmer said.

The new rules stated that candidates could not pass out apparel or food with their information on it. Instead, they were allowed to hand out stickers, pins, small flyers and small candy.

“I think the restrictions hindered people’s ability to win because in past years, candidates had T-shirts and more materialistic items that influenced people to vote for them. But, I personally like them in the sense that it doesn’t require you to spend as much money to campaign,” Audriana Boyce said.

While Jax Gimenez was awaiting the results, he talked about his most efficient and cost effective form of marketing to the student body.

“I think posting a lot on social media was probably the best way to reach out to the school because it’s cheap and everyone usually has their phones accessible or close by,” Gimenez said.

Voting was open from March 28 – 30 and the winning positions were announced March 31 at 3:30 p.m., right before students went on spring break. Standing on the baseball field before his game, J.R. Wall watched as his phone blew up. “I checked my phone and saw a bunch of texts from people telling me that I won. When my teammates and I found out, the team got hyped and I got adrenaline for the game,” Wall said.

With the election behind them, leaders are already working to achieve their goals.

“Since all of the senior class officers for next year are in leadership, we’ve been brainstorming and planning places to make our senior ball memorable,” Lauren Ansaldo said.

President-elect Nayeli Glaude led her campaign with the goal of making campus more inclusive while highlighting the staff and students.

Glaude said, “One of my main priorities for next year is to truly embrace each and every group on campus which means different cultures, beliefs, orientations and the overall diversity of the people at Whitney High School. I want to make a multicultural event where each person feels represented and validated while also growing their understanding of other people’s background. My hope is to unite the school while also making an impact on representation for each group.”

by ALEXANDRA BOSANO & NATALIE DEEBLE