A little social experiment...

Well folks, here's what happens when I get bored. I've decided to test the system in place at my school. Here's where I'll upload updates on how this project is going.

Our school is having the upcoming Class Council Elections, where they allow students to run, and other students to vote for who their class council officers will be. I decided to do a little testing of every aspect of the system.

Stage one: Break the norm in as many ways as possible. Part one of this is me running. I have mocked the class council system for years due to its lack of influence and because of the people who are part of it. So I'm switching things up by running. Part two is my timing. I'm seeing how much lag the system will tolerate. They've agreed to let me turn in my campaign paperwork a school day late (Monday, rather than Friday). Next up will be stressing the norms in my actual campaign. My posters read like a scene out of George Orwell's 1984. Across the top is a bold and black OBEY. Underneath that is the text "Vote Craig Hickman for 08 class president".

Next up will be to stress the system even more with my campaign speech. Unlike all of the other candidates, who talk with extravagant promises that they will change that never come true, I'm simply going to say that I will do my best to organize the meetings, which is the job's only real duty.

I'm interested in seeing how this turns out, as I've never been involved with student politics inside the school, nor the ASB.

I also plan to use this opportunity to spread the word about robotics as much as possible.

[Nawaid Ladak]

sounds interesting...

we have (2) former members of 1402 running for senior class president and vice president. even though im a senior, im gonna have some influence, (NHS, sports fans, etc.) so i told them to include robotics in their agenda and they will get my peoples votes, in other words, i will be a supporter of their campaign

again, good luck with your experiment, it seems really fun...

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Wow, Craig, sounds very interesting and right up my kind of entertainment alley. I'd like to see a very detailed write-up on the process and conclusion. Good luck, I'd definitely vote for you (if I could) because of your posters and the fact that you'd be telling the truth in your speech.

[artdutra04]

When giving your speech, you should have a huge poster behind you of yourself, like in the film Citizen Kane. After you give your speech, work the word rosebud into the closing remarks.

[raymaniac]

Originally Posted by Budda648

Wow, Craig, sounds very interesting and right up my kind of entertainment alley. I'd like to see a very detailed write-up on the process and conclusion. Good luck, I'd definitely vote for you (if I could) because of your posters and the fact that you'd be telling the truth in your speech.

^What he said^

[Jeremiah Johnson]

There was a student at Black Hawk College that ran for President of the SGA with the platform of legalizing marijauna and FREE HUGS. I thought this was hilarious when I read the school paper's article on him. In the end, he won. I think it was the free hugs part, or possibly the fact that everyone at BHC is a pothead? He ran against an amazing blind guy that's been through so many trials and tribulations. I don't get it. But some people are screwed up... or most of BHC in this matter.

[lukevanoort]

Not as extreme as the example above, but at NC State a couple of years back there was a fellow who ran as the "Pirate Captain" and reportedly most of his debate time was spent saying "arrrrr" and other such stereotypical pirate talk. He won. A couple of articles about it: linky, linky.

Well, the grand experiment has come to an end. I was taken out of the running due to my acceptance to an alternate schooling for next year. Middle College should be fun!

(for those that are wondering, middle college means I'll be taking a core session (from 12 to 2) at the local community college, and then am able to take college classes which reflect back as double high school credit)

[KelliV]

Good luck. I am currently a senator on my college's SGA and was just nominated to be the Vice President of Finance and Vice President of Communication so I will be giving my speeches Tuesday in front of the senate and some students.
Running for student government is a great thing and congrats for stepping up to the challange, best of luck and I hope that you can truely create change in your school!

-Kelli

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

Well, the grand experiment has come to an end. I was taken out of the running due to my acceptance to an alternate schooling for next year. Middle College should be fun!

(for those that are wondering, middle college means I'll be taking a core session (from 12 to 2) at the local community college, and then am able to take college classes which reflect back as double high school credit)

Congrats on your acceptance!

Jacob

[Joe Ross]

At RIT a few years ago, a ficus plant was 3rd or 4th in the voting for student president.

[Alexa Stott]

Kristian Calhoun and I were thinking of running for President/Vice President of our class for next year simply because the same people run every year unopposed and we think it would be really great if we could give them a run for their money. (Especially since if we win, we get to plan our senior prom)

Too bad it didn't work out, but if Kristian and I decide to go through with our plan, we'll let you know how it turns out.

[Pavan Dave]

At our school, there was a kid named Pedro who half of our graduating class knows nothing about....Anyways he beat this overachiever who everybody knows about by a landslide which is unfortunate....I guess the slogan vote for Pedro was soo original that he won some creativity points for that? (This was in '05 during the elections for sophomore president.)

Sometimes I fear for the fate of this country...I think all you need to win president of the US of A is to rename yourself Pedro, and you've already won without trying due to the amount of idiots outnumbering people with some care in the world. Fortunately and unfortunately I think voting for Pedro is the only way to get young Americans to vote.

Time to end my rant on society...
Pavan.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Originally Posted by Pavan

At our school, there was a kid named Pedro who half of our graduating class knows nothing about....Anyways he beat this overachiever who everybody knows about by a landslide which is unfortunate....I guess the slogan vote for Pedro was soo original that he won some creativity points for that? (This was in '05 during the elections for sophomore president.)

Sometimes I fear for the fate of this country...I think all you need to win president of the US of A is to rename yourself Pedro, and you've already won without trying due to the amount of idiots outnumbering people with some care in the world. Fortunately and unfortunately I think voting for Pedro is the only way to get young Americans to vote.

Time to end my rant on society...
Pavan.

On the contrary, I think this is pretty cool. The little guy winning in a popularity contest is awesome. The guy probably didn't need anymore college credentials if he was an overachiever. So what his name was Pedro, he just used some common phrase. If my name were Ike and I ran for SGA then I would definitely use the "I like Ike" phrase.

[John Gutmann]

Originally Posted by Pavan

At our school, there was a kid named Pedro who half of our graduating class knows nothing about....Anyways he beat this overachiever who everybody knows about by a landslide which is unfortunate....I guess the slogan vote for Pedro was soo original that he won some creativity points for that? (This was in '05 during the elections for sophomore president.)

Sometimes I fear for the fate of this country...I think all you need to win president of the US of A is to rename yourself Pedro, and you've already won without trying due to the amount of idiots outnumbering people with some care in the world. Fortunately and unfortunately I think voting for Pedro is the only way to get young Americans to vote.

Time to end my rant on society...
Pavan.

Well what happens if both canidates are name pedro?

-John