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

Bhandary-Narayanan: We noticed that Student Senate has a ton of resources and influence, but it’s not as connected to the student community as it could be. We wanted to make sure that it’s actually representing what the student body wants, and we think we have some really good ideas.

Collins: Student Senate is one of the most able clubs at City High. They have the ability to do kind of a lot, and they do some stuff, but we think there are a lot of very easily missed opportunities that could be fixed that would really improve student experience and make senior year a lot more fun. 

What are you going to change about the school?

Bhandary-Narayan: We have four points for a platform. We want to open up the five minutes at the end of Student Senate for students to come in and tell us their questions and concerns, so we can be more connected to the school community.

Collins: We also think that prom tickets are too expensive. Like, $25 is kind of a lot, and Student Senate has tons of money. Student Senate has surplus money, [and they don’t fundraise]. All of their money comes from prom ticket sales, Homecoming ticket sales, stuff like that. If they did any amount of fundraising, which we would implement, we could definitely lower the price of prom tickets. 

Bhandary-Narayanan: We ran a food drive this year, and it was really successful. And we want to continue events that help our community, but link them to City High events that are fun. So, like, donate the proceeds from the carnival to a community organization [and things] like that. 

Collins: The class of 2026 is very unique in the sense that COVID hit us right at the end of our sixth grade year, which meant a lot of us missed really cool and fun events that we would have gotten to do at the end of sixth grade. Alma and I want to try implementing some of those, like a day of the wild instead of a week at the School of the Wild. 

What are your campaign strategies?

Bhandary-Narayanan: We want to talk to as many people as we can.

Collins: I mean, really, student outreach is the most important thing that [we can do]. And, like, getting our message across, just in terms of what we want to do. We’re doing an interview, so that’s a good start.

Bhandary-Narayanan: We think we have a really strong platform, so I think that’ll be helpful. And just like, talk to people and be friendly.

Collins: [On] our Instagram account, one of the only things in the bio is [that people can] DM us with questions, concerns, suggestions. We really want to hear from people what they want done.

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

Collins: While we’re running, people can DM us on our Instagram account, and we’re going to put up QR codes so people can tell us directly what they want changed about the school. And then if we get elected as president, we’ll open up the five minutes at the end of Student Senate meetings for students to come in. Because it’s late in the morning, most of the students will be in the school so they can come in and tell us what they think needs to be changed so we can be more connected with the community. 

Bhandary-Narayanan: And everyone has different things that they care about or are concerned about. I do think our platform addresses some of those things already. Like, I know I’ve heard a lot of people talking about prom tickets, like, “I might not be able to go, might not be able to buy one,” which really stinks. Prom should  be accessible for everyone. Our platform is built to address some of those things.

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

Collins: We ran a food drive together this year, and it was actually the most food and money raised by a high school that the Iowa Food Banks ever seen.

Bhandary-Narayanan: I’m president of Math Club, [and I do] Mock Trial. There’s a lot of, like, leadership and also team work experience, because we’re working in a 10 person team, and we need to, like, all coordinate. But the attorneys have a certain amount of leadership there.

Collins: The main thing that comes to mind for me is that I did RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, which is a huge thing. It’s a week-long camp where you learn leadership stuff. RYLA is a very special experience. It’s very hard to explain, but ultimately, it is about leadership. And not only did I attend there, I also went through a pretty competitive interview and application process, and I’m going back this summer to work there. I’ll lead a team of sophomores. I think that’s my main source of leadership, that and the food drive.

What challenges do you anticipate facing over the next year if elected?

Bhandary-Narayanan: We want to do things that involve money, like the prom tickets. We also want to make Senior Assassin free. I don’t know if we mentioned that. 

Collins: I think a major challenge is that we want to do things involving money, which means we need to fundraise. Fundraising is not super easy, but I think [we could] do it for sure. Yeah, like the food drive. We have experienced fundraising. It’s very doable, but, you know, it’ll require some effort on our part, which we are more than happy to put in.

Bhandary-Narayanan: And also, there’s just kind of a little bit of a problem here where there’s like, a disconnect from Student Senate, which has a lot of power, and how much the student body knows about what Student Senate does and what they have the power to do. So we want to try to address that, but it might be a little bit of a challenge to make sure we’re actually representing whatever you want. Like, most students have absolutely no idea what the student council president does, because they don’t care, which is fair, but you know, it impacts people.

If elected, what will be your main priorities?

Collins: I mean, at risk of sounding like a broken record, student outreach and accessibility of senior activities like senior prom and assassin.

Bhandary-Narayanan: We want to have a super fun senior year, but we think we can also use that to benefit the wider Iowa City community and help people. We want to make some really great memories for senior year.

If elected, how will you communicate with the student body?

Collins: We want to open up Student Senate for people, and [we will use] the announcements and things like that. So we make sure we get to people where they are paying attention.

How do you plan on collaborating with administration?

Collins: Administration is definitely going to be [something] we’re going to have to [work with] for a lot of the things we want to do, especially the sixth grade stuff. I have already reached out to a couple of administrators relating to the sixth grade project, like some of the people that plan a Week of the Wild for elementary schools, and [have] talked to them about it. 

Bhandary-Narayanan: And we think we have a pretty good relationship with the City High administration. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.

Collins: I mean, bacon’s a nice guy. His priority is for students to like, have a good year. 

Bhandary-Narayanan: I think he’s going to be very amicable to what we want to do.

Collins: Yeah, I think that we have some changes we want to make, but I think that we’ll be very able to communicate and collaborate with the administration about them.

What do you think the biggest challenges facing the student party are?

Bhandary-Narayanan: I mean, we talked about cost, like, like, lack of accessibility for a lot of events. A lot of people just don’t participate in fun senior year things, which is a shame. We want to change that. 

Collins: We want to help increase involvement in the community, so that the whole senior class feels connected and feels like Student Senate is doing things for them and representing them, instead of just the small group of people who are, like, the most involved.

Bhandary-Narayanan: We don’t want it to be this club that kind of runs on its own and decides things for the student body without including them really, which is sometimes, I think, how it feels.

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

Bhandary-Narayanan: A huge responsibility is making sure that they understand and represent what the student body wants or wants changed. And so making sure to talk with people and understand what people are unhappy about is a huge responsibility. 

Collins: Yeah. The Student Senate presidents, we think, are definitely not meant to go out on their own and just do their own agenda. So, yeah, we think it’s very important to stay connected and in communication with the student body, see what they want.

Bhandary-Narayanan: In terms of the actual responsibilities, there’s going to school board meetings, speeches at graduation, pep rallies, things like that, talking to John Bacon a whole lot. But we think the most important responsibility is making sure that Student Senate accurately representing and working for the student body.

How would you represent City High at student school board meetings?

Collins: City High is a really great school. We have all sorts of really special things going on, and a lot of the time how Student Senate finds out about those things is that we just ask Student Senate members. This president asks: “What happened at Student Senate in the last two weeks?” And the people who are in the club say what they know. So it’s basically the Student Senate members’ activities [that] are the most represented. We want to make sure that we are paying more attention. We can write things down about big achievements in sports and academics and arts and like, all across the school so that we’re not just relying on what the members of Student Senate know. 

Bhandary-Narayanan: Sometimes with, like, maybe the Latino Hawks, or maybe Inclusion Club, we don’t hear quite as much about that because they [don’t have as many members] in Student Senate. So we need to make sure that we’re listening to all of the different organizations.

How would you encourage student involvement and Student Senate and other extracurricular activities and clubs? 

Collins: I mean, we’ve talked a bit about this already. We want to make Student Senate a club that is open to more people, and people feel more welcome and comfortable coming in and telling us what they think we need to hear. That’s a big part of our platform. 

Bhandary-Narayanan: We want to make sure senior year is a really fun year, and people feel connected to our community. So we’re going to do that by trying to make it more accessible and hosting a lot of different fun senior events. And we hope that students will feel more involved, and maybe will want to go, like, try out a different club or something, if they see how fun our class can be.

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

Bhandary Narayanan: Well, hopefully, we’ll be remembered as the student council presidents that created a system for fundraising and made prom, tickets cheaper-

Collins: And that everyone in our class has some really great memories of their senior year, definitely.