Why do you want to be Student Senate Co-Presidents?

Eltayib:  I would say [that] one of the main reasons I want to be president is that [Claire and I] have been in Student Senate for such a long time. Over our time in Student Senate, we’ve seen…a lot of different presidents and what they focus on. So we want to focus on inclusion and bringing that to students. 

Locher: We have a lot of experience with how to put events together and we have a lot of experience in seeing what doesn’t work and what does work. Being the only candidates that have been in [Student Senate] for three years, we can figure things out better. We want to put our own little flair on it..

What are you going to change about the school?

Eltayib: I think one of the main things that we want to focus on is inclusion and allowing students to have a voice. I think one of the biggest things that’s changed this year is that there’s no more advisory, and so it’s become so much harder for people to come to Student Senate. Last we had like, Friday Advisory and all sorts of students could come and give our ideas. Now we don’t really have that anymore, so I think it’d be helpful for us to bring a voice to those students through things like class representatives, committees, [and] suggestion boxes to allow students who are in Student Senate to have a voice in…homecoming and other school events

Locher: Speaking of prom and homecoming, usually we just have…three themes that Student Senate chooses and then we send it out to the student body to vote on. But one of our main ideas was to make it so that students can send in ideas and all that jazz. And then we’ll vote on, like, top ten, and then top three, or something like that. So it won’t just be three themes that we picked out of Anderson Magazine.

Do you have any previous leadership experience? How will that help you?

Eltayib: I’d say we have a lot of experience. This year, Claire and I committee chairs for the Spring Carnival, so we got out there a lot [and] we talked to a lot of local businesses. We were ablot to raise a lot of money for it, and [the Spring Carnival] seemed to be a super successful event [that] a lot of students liked. So we want to bring more of that. Beyond just Student Senate, I’m also involved in a lot of other activities. I’m currently serving as the STEM Committee Chair on the State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council, so I’ve been advocating for STEM change across Iowa. [In addition], I’m also leading the Golden Beaker nonprofit, which raises money for STEM supplies. Through those two leadership experiences, I focus on STEM but I’ve also been able to just talk to a lot of students in general about the type of change they want to see, both across the state and also in our schools. I think that’s given me a pretty diverse perspective of students.

Locher: Kind of similarly to Amal, I’m the secretary for the Golden Beaker. I’ve also had the opportunity to be cross-country captain, which has helped me to get to know everyone on the team and also hear a lot of different perspectives about cross-country, of course, but then also about everything that’s going on at school and all that jazz.

What are your campaign strategies?

Eltayib: I think the main thing is just getting people excited. We want to bring back a lot of the fun activities that we kind of let go, like the winter dance. And then we also want to introduce some new things as well, like class wars. We want to have things throughout the year, because one thing that me and Claire have noticed after talking to students is that in the second tri, we see a slump where there’s a lot of stuff going on. Obviously, those are kind of like the darkest winter times, and we want to bring something fun to those.

How do you plan to address the concerns and priorities of the student body?

Eltayib: Kind of like what we were saying with inclusion, we’re going to make sure to keep students about everything.  [We will] post things on our Instagram, send out emails, or just make sure that people know what’s going on and have a lot of opportunities for them to vote and participate in decisions that are being made. 

Locher: I think every year, Student Senate has made a promise to be more active on social media and be more active with the student body. Sometimes, as the year goes on, we just see that engagement dropping. And so I think something we want to focus on is making sure…that this social media is active from August to June. One of the things we want to do is have someone who’s able to run the social media and update it.

If elected, what challenges do you anticipate facing?

Locher: I think just getting interest in getting people to participate in our votes and all that jazz. But, I mean, I guess we never have trouble with getting people to vote for homecoming themes, but maybe getting people to vote on, like, the smaller stuff.

Eltayib: I think another thing is being terrible. I’ve been involved in a lot of different things and we’re really busy, but at the same time, I think that being co-class presidents would almost cancel  that out. Claire is really busy in the fall with cross-country and all that jazz, and then I’m really busy in the spring with my activities like mock trial and other stuff going on. So I think that being able to divide the responsibilities [would help us] tackle that together.

How will you communicate with the student body?

Locher: Through Instagram and email.

Eltayib: We also definitely want to get out there and talk to students, because…there are some students who don’t have social media or don’t check their emails.

How do you plan on collaborating with administration?

Eltayib: Every month [the Student Senate presidents] have to meet with Mr. Bacon to get ready for the school board meeting. So maybe doing more frequent meetings and making sure that [administration is] informed [could be a good idea]. 

Locher:  I think it’s really just [about] communication, [including] making sure that we’re not going off on our own little tangent, making sure that we know what’s going on, and keeping [administrators] informed about what students are upset about or what students might want.

What are the biggest challenges facing the student body?

Eltayib: I think people just don’t have a say in what goes on, both in Student Senate and then beyond school. I think we really want to focus on inclusion and accessibility. Again, me and Claire want to carry on the tradition of free yearbooks, free senior photos, and

What do you think are the biggest responsibilities of a student senate president?

Eltayib: I think just representing City High well and making sure students know that school is a fun place to be. 

Locher: Student presidents are the only student representatives at City High. And so it’s really about representing the entire school. I think being able [to] branch out and not only focus on who we know…and [to] talk to people we normally wouldn’t see, is really important, because obviously we’re not just representing our class, we’re representing the entire school.

How would you represent City High at school board meetings?

Eltayib: Well, currently, what we do in Student Senate is [that] before every school board meeting, we have a session where we draft out a bunch of the accomplishments of the school, whether that means sports or any other academic meeting, and then from that the class presidents report on that. I think [next] year it’d be cool if we were able to send out a form and people could talk about some of the accomplishments and all of the things they’re doing. 

Locher: Yeah. Because Student Senate is is kind of a limited community because a lot of the people that are in students in it are in a lot of the same events, we don’t get to hear maybe some of the things from the smaller clubs that had accomplishments or, like, extracurricular things that are related to City High. We really want to just, again, reach out to the student body and hear what they have to say about everything great that’s going on in City High.

How would you encourage student involvement in student senate and other extracurricular activities and clubs?

Locher: I think one of the biggest things to encourage student involvement is getting them excited about Student Senate. It’s really fun to play in these different homecoming and you get a say in what direction or what decorations are there, and yeah,

Eltayib: And then beyond just the events, you also get a say in a lot of other important things, like the winter hunger drive. Me and Claire have been volunteering at the Winter Hunger Drive for the past three years, and they’ve raised thousands of dollars, which is really helpful for the community. And so I think making sure that they know Student Senate is helping out in all of these other events in the community, [like] getting to help clubs with the club grant.

Locher: Sometimes we collaborate with other clubs to put on events or help them put on their events. So yeah, it’s a lot more than just homecoming and prom.

If elected, what legacy do you hope to leave behind?

Eltayib: I guess we just want to make it more of a tradition to really include the student body and everything. This year, especially, it’s been kind of just 20 people in Student Senate, planning everything, so we really just want to reach out to everyone and make sure the people outside of Mr. Tygrett’s room have a say in what’s going on.