Following a hotly contested election, a new president and vice president have been elected to lead BCCHS’s Student Council. The new Student Council president will be Bowman Seitz, and the vice president will be Alex Johnson. They will begin their term next year. The voting took place on Thursday, May 1st, in the morning.
Both presidential pairs ran noteworthy campaigns. The campaigns commenced with the presidential pairs hanging posters in the hallways. The runner ups, Kaitlyn Foster and Sam Winchell, were the first ones to hang up posters. They used slogans such as, “Vote for Pedro” and then crossed out Pedro and wrote Kaitlyn and Sam. The quote, “Vote for Pedro”, is from the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” where a kid wins class president on the slogan “Vote for Pedro.” Seitz and Johnson were able to overcome their late start even though it may have hurt them, as Seitz said, “Alex and I put our posters up late and that put us a little behind in our campaign.” They used creative slogans such as a poster put up by a drinking fountain which stated, “Water you waiting for, vote Bowman-Alex.” After a campaign of posters, video commercials, and a videoed debate, in the end, Seitz and Johnson ran the winning campaign, as Seitz said, “We won the election because of our great campaign. We put posters everywhere to spread awareness that we were running, and our campaign video was amazing. We won because the students wanted to see more competitions and activities run by Student Council next year, which was our main platform for the campaign.” Seitz is a junior at Billings Central, and he was a captain on the state championship winning soccer team. He has been a member of BCCHS’s Student Council since he was a freshman.
Seitz and Johnson promised to change a lot in the way Student Council has previously operated. They have promised to host other events besides dodgeball, as Johnson said, “We’re hoping to add more events to Homecoming Week like do some mini games or even a tournament of just some competitions. In March, we’re hoping to do a March Madness basketball tournament. Throughout the year, just adding to the activities and the events that student council provides.” Johnson is the president of BCCHS’s Environmental Club and has also been in Student Council since he was a freshman.
Sam Winchell and Kaitlyn Foster will still be active in Student Council’s leadership. Sam Winchell became secretary, and Kaitlyn Foster became treasurer. In those elections for secretary and treasurer, only members of Student Council were able to vote.
Overall, the presidential race fiercely competitive, but Bowman Seitz and Alex Johnson were able to pull through, and they hope to begin a new era at Central next school year.
