Class of 2026 Elect Student Officers
Following the results of the elections, the freshman Class of 2026 officers are President Payton “PJ” Clauser, Vice President Avinash “Avi” Shah, Secretary Evon Kamel, and Treasurer Avantika Johri. Last year, being in the Student Council influenced many of them to decide to run for their positions.
“I was president of the Student Council last year and I really enjoyed it. It was fun. I enjoyed making sure people’s ideas were heard,” Clauser said.
The Class of 2026 advisor, math teacher Mr. Casey Cooperman, is thrilled to be guiding the officers in their new roles. A former intermediate school teacher Mr. Cooperman has stuck with the Class of 2026 since they were in fourth grade. When the freshman class needed an advisor, he decided to take on the role, because he enjoyed teaching this class. He believes organized, all-around good students who can put in extra time and juggle everything thrown at them make the best officers.
“I obviously know them from previous years and knew I was going to get good candidates,” Mr. Cooperman said.
New student officers do not have many ideas for prom and fundraising just yet. They’ve seen a lot of clubs doing fundraisers currently, and they want to do something unique and are taking time to come up with ideas.
“The main idea is to do something new,” Shah said.
The ninth-grade student body has a largely positive opinion of the student officers even though they were just elected.
“They’re amazing,” freshman Jake Burtt said. “Our president is the best.”
As the Class of 2026 begins their last four years of high school, the experience should be something to positively look back on. The Class of 2026 student officers hope to make the years memorable and have an excellent high school experience.
“I’m really excited to embark on this journey and watch this class grow,” Mr. Cooperman said.
Freshman Katya Mikhalik is a first-year staff reporter for The Spotlight. They also plan to join the Speech and Debate team this year. Katya loves to draw...