By Elly Niedzviecki
Photo By Anthony Quach
As we all know, things are going to work a little differently this school year. Even this year's Student Activity Council (SAC) election process had to be changed drastically. The elections, usually held in the spring with meetings to explain each position, in person voting and oftentimes involving speeches and assemblies, were held entirely online this year, the majority through Instagram. From October 8th to 26th, the students running provided videos explaining their platform, which were posted on the SAC Instagram account: harbord.students. On the 26th a survey in the format of a Google Form where you were able to vote was sent out to the student emails.
Now onto the results. This year's SAC president is Caitlin Fuller. The senior vice president is Kabir Sheikh and the junior vice president is Naina Persad. The SAC treasurer this year is Carter Chan and Victoria Karimy is the public relations officer. The SAC social convenor this school year is Matthew Harris, the equity officer is Isabella Gouveia, the secretary is Dakota Brooks and the external affairs officer is Sophia Rottman. The student representatives have also been decided.
In previous years everyone at school the day of the election would receive a ballot in class that would then be collected ensuring that the majority of the student body was able to vote. This year by Saturday (two days before the voting ended) less than half of the student body had voted. Although Instagram was useful for the campaigning, it doesn't have the same reach. Not everyone follows the account or has Instagram, which makes it difficult to have larger voting numbers.
With this year’s club fair cancelled and commencement ceremony and elections moved online, it's difficult to predict what's going to happen with future Harbord events. SAC president Caitlin Fuller says she hopes to find safe alternatives for them. She mentioned that if things are safer in the spring we would potentially be able to host dances or the colour run outdoors. We still were able to have the spirit week experience last week! October 28th was pajama day and the day after (the 29th) in preparation for Halloween was wear your costume to school day!
The Student Activity Council used social media to communicate in earlier years, so it's not a major imposition with the communication between the SAC executive team. Along with all the other clubs and student organisations this year, their meetings were moved to virtual Google Meets meetings. Despite the global pandemic, the Student Activity Council is still up and running this year, already in full swing. With the elections finished, we are looking forward to seeing what's going to be next! Keep up the great work SAC!