The current junior class elected rising seniors AJ Thompson as Student Body President and Ismael Karim as Student Body Vice President last Friday.

Because of the current situation involving Covid-19, the elections were held in the Field House during 8th period where students could sit socially distanced and listen to the speeches.

“All the speeches have been excellent,” said StuCo moderator Megan Menne. “We’ve had more underclassmen in particular running for class president and vice president, wanting to be involved and wanting to do things for their class, so I think that’s awesome.”

After the speeches, a Google Form was sent to all juniors so they could vote for candidates they wanted.

“I was shaking so bad when I was giving it. I was trying to maneuver my hand, the paper, the microphone and all that. I had to hold the paper with two hands,” said Karim. “When I finished the speech I was thinking thank goodness I just got that over with and I didn't trip over my words.”

Soon to be StuCo president Thompson’s speech was one to remember as he entered on roller blades and led the crowd in cheers. After the cheers, he talked about SLUH as a community and how we shouldn’t take even the little things for granted. 

“I think, no doubt, we are incredibly lucky to be enrolled at SLUH in the first place, and that SLUH has returned to on campus learning. I think those are the kinds of thinking we take for granted. Which I alluded to in my speech, that we need to recognize all these good things in our life. We need to appreciate them,” said Thompson. 

The voting for senior president and senior vice president was held by a primary election because of the large number of candidates. The top vote-getter would become senior President, and the second-highest vote-getter would become senior vice president. Junior James Saadi was elected as president and Matthew Vanous vice president for the class of 2022.

“Honestly I missed it, I missed being president, I enjoy it,” said Saadi. “And I just thought this year I couldn’t handle it because junior year is so hard. And I was right, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it his year because of the workload but next year I feel like I’ll be more ready to go.”

“On Kairos I realized that I actually enjoy leading, and part of that is making speeches and being courageous, so I thought I’ll throw my feet into the fire, and it worked out,” said Vanous. 

Thompson is looking forward to the challenges of being student body president next year after having a successful year as junior class president. 

“Obviously we're limited to what we can do, but I think we did our best efforts to make the most of it. And I think that showed successful spirit and mission weeks and various tangents throughout the year,” said Thompson. 

Both Thompson and Karim ran on policies hoping to make next year a return to normal, or as normal as it can be given the unpredictability of Covid-19.

“I think we’ve missed out on so much this year, that ultimately I just plan on making next year the most fun it can be,” said Karim.

“I’ve been talking with a lot of guys, and we think spirit is gonna be a huge part of next year. We really just want to get the building buzzing again,” said Thompson. 

Thompson in particular was thankful for being introduced to, and led by, current student body president John Browdy.

“I learned that if you truly do love the school, you truly do care about people, it will lead you to great things. And you can accomplish a lot if you put your heart and soul into it,” said Thompson. 

One of the most crucial parts of Saadi’s plan to return to normal is the SLUH merch StuCo has made in the past. 

“I want to release cool merch, I want to go back to the days of yore, when we had album covers as merch with a Billiken on it. I just want to do that again, because that works and everyone buys it,” said Saadi. 

Menne is looking forward to working alongside the group of students elected and extends big things from the year to come.

“With AJ Thompson at the helm, I think we’ll be in good shape for next year. He had a very good speech, so I think he’s ready to lead the people,” said Menne.