President of Class of 2020  – Candidates: Jia Garcia, Helena Perez, Connor Sazant

Jia Garcia – Candidate for President of Class of 2020

Campaign Goal 1: To increase attendance at home sporting events, I would like to sell food and other items at every game. The money raised will be used to further improve the merchandise, and the sporting department.

Campaign Goal 2: At the end of our sophomore year, I would like to plan a day trip to Orlando. I would like to have another bonding experience like we had during our freshmen year, and it may turn into a new tradition.

Campaign Goal 3: I would like to  designate a day where we prepare food for the homeless at a local shelter to help the people in need.

Helena Perez – Candidate for President of Class of 2020

My name is Helena Perez, and I am running for 2020 Class President.

 Campaign Goal #1: Hard Work Towards Homecoming

Last year, our grade was disqualified from the video, the makeup challenge, and the fashion challenge. This will not be the case in the 2017-2018 school year: we will organize who will be participating in the events ahead of time, and events such as Battle of the Bands and the video should not be completed last minute. Additionally, I know each of our classmates well, and their areas of expertise— which would result in inclusive, diverse contributions to our success during next year’s homecoming.

Goal #1 Timeline

From the beginning of the year until homecoming.

Campaign Goal #2: Class Sweatshirts

We are all antsy to buy our class sweatshirts! Next year, the requests for the designs and colors will be sent in and approved by the student body through individual submissions to the class student government and polls. Hence, the students get to decide on the design, rather than just the class student government. The majority should be satisfied with the outcome if everyone has an opportunity to give their opinion. The goal is also to deliver our sweatshirts in a timely manner.

Goal #2 Timeline

Since it takes a long time to pick the design, organize, and deliver the sweatshirts, I plan to start working on this at the beginning of the school year and hopefully have the sophomore class wearing them no later than the middle of the second semester.

Campaign Goal #3: “Sophomore Splurges”

Since we do not have a field trip during sophomore year, I still want our grade to come together nicely and bond. I plan to provide food during special occasions such as a kick-off party towards the beginning of the year, midterm week, and an end-of-the-year party. Whether it be a breakfast or a pizza party, the money can be raised through bake sales.

Goal #3 Timeline

Providing food for the sophomore class should start in September to kick off the year, occur again during midterm week, and then again towards the end of May to officially wrap up the school year.

Connor Sazant – Candidate for President of Class of 2020

I (Connor Sazant) will be running for President of the 10th grade.

My three ideas for the upcoming school year include:

Campaign Goal 1: Using the new uniform company I would like to make a class polo shirt. The shirt would be made personally for each specific student as it will have their first name on it. The color of the shirt can be decided by making a poll with our color options on our class Facebook page. This way everyone will get to have input on our shirts.

Goal 1 Timeline: I would like to achieve this goal as early as possible in the school year.

Campaign Goal 2: Every three months I would like to have a breakfast for the whole grade. The cost of this breakfast will be taken care of by our grades account. We have existing money in the account and can raise money by having bake sales.

Goal 2 Timeline: Every 3 months

Campaign Goal 3:I will encourage 100% participation on the class Facebook page. I would also revamp and rebrand all class social media platforms.

Goal 3 Timeline: Effective Immediately

Vice President of Class of 2020 – Candidates: Hannah Amoils, Sofia Paredes, Stevie Port, and Amaris Rios

 Hannah Amoils – Candidate for Vice President of Class of 2020

Campaign Goal #1

• My first goal is to bring back food trucks at least once a month after school.

Campaign Goal #2

• Another one of my goals is to have more service days so there are more opportunities for students to get service hours throughout the year.

Campaign Goal #2

• Lastly, the students should be able to wear college attire once a month.

Sofia Paredes – Candidate for Vice President of Class of 2020

I’m Sofia Paredes. I’m running for Class Vice President of the Class of 2020, next’s year’s sophomore class. My goals for next year if I am elected are:

Campaign goal 1: Convince the school to let us wear the school sweatpants everyday.

Goal 1 timeline: If elected, I will start gathering signatures for petitions to allow us to wear sweatpants as soon as the next school year starts. I would like to accomplish this goal by mid-October or early November at the latest so that we can wear sweatpants as soon as the temperatures begin to drop.

Campaign goal 2: Persuade the school to allow us to order Uber Eats during lunch.

Goal 2 timeline: If elected, I will start gathering signatures for petitions to allow us to order Uber Eats as soon as the next school year starts. I would like to accomplish this goal as soon as possible, around late-September or early October, at the latest.

Campaign goal 3: Have a class party at the end of the year.

Goal 3 timeline: I think that we should start planning this party around January, and the party should be either in late May or early June; either right before the end of the school year or on the last day of the school year.

Stevie Port – Candidate for Vice President of Class of 2020

My name is Stevie Port and I am running for 2017-2018 Vice-President. I want to make the Class of 2020’s Sophomore year amazing and will work as hard as I can to do it. I would like to accomplish many things this upcoming school year, here are some of the many goals I tend to accomplish. I plan to make a Class of 2020 polo shirt with the Miami Country Day emblem and each student’s name embroidered on the shirt. Next year we will be switching to the Reese Brothers uniform company and I have already spoken to them about if we can work together to make this goal happen. I would like to begin to plan and make the polos in August and September 2017. Next I hope to get the students of our grade Smoothie King, or another type of food or snack delivery, every month. We do many thing to pay for this like raise the money various way, collect it from students, or even take it out of the Class of 2020 fund. We would begin planning in September and October. If we as a whole cannot decide on an item to order, then we will have a survey on what to get. Something very important to me is for the student body of our class to be represent through what the Class Council and Student Government do. Having supported this year’s class and seeing the behind the scene planning I feel I can continue to advocate for our needs in the Student Government. Our job should be to accomplish what you want us to do because this work goes towards making our school year great, together. This is why my next hope is to send out a survey every month asking how we can improve our grade and what ideas you have. This is a way to communicate and spread information and ideas amongst the class. Lastly, I want to have a class field trip that the students give ideas on where to go, what to do, and how we can have fun as a grade whether it be going to a movie or on a trip to do a physical activity together.  A survey would be sent out in the fall asking for ideas and then we can plan around that for when to have it and where. As I stated before, there are different ways to obtain the money for the fees. I have a great work ethic, and enthusiastic attitude, and many exciting ideas to many our school year great. I am Stevie Port and I’m running to be your next Vice-President of the Class of 2020.

Amaris Rios – Candidate for Vice President of Class of 2020

1. Sophomore town hall events. An optional event, held once a month, every Tuesday, where I will make it my job to update you all on the progress that I, and the elected cabinet, is making towards accomplishing all of our campaign promises.

1. More space for service. The holidays is a great time to spread appreciation and love, and I feel that it is our civic duty as students of Miami Country Day to give back to the community and practice what we preach. Before Thanksgiving break, I feel it is necessary for the class to host a food drive so we leave no family without a proper dinner. Also, during Christmas, the grade as a whole, should host a toy/book drive for local, underprivileged, South Florida, kids whose families can’t afford it.
2. Class of 2020 sponsored bake sales. Preferably, twice a month, every other Friday, so we can raise money for our class in order to have just enough money to host an end of the year class event or activity day so we can celebrating the end of the year.

Program Director of Class of 2020 – Candidates: Anika Boano, Andrew Calfa, Renee Mandel, and Asha Yearwood

 Anika Boano – Candidate for Program Director of Class of 2020

– Campaign Goal 1: Community Service; getting students to be more involved and having more days dedicated to community service (not just one).

Goal 1 Timeline: Having one day devoted to helping the community during each semester to help students fulfill their hours and to really appreciate our area.

– Campaign Goal 2: Increase sporting event attendances; for the students to be more committed to supporting their school’s sports teams.

Goal 2 Timeline: Throughout the year whether it is fall, winter or spring sports

– Campaign Goal 3: Homecoming; the event should continue throughout the year, not just during the MCDS Cancer Walk. Grade points awarded for community service hours, sport attendance and other events held at school.

Goal 3 Timeline: Although homecoming finishes after the MCDS Cancer Walk, I think it should continue afterwards to get students more involved within the school’s community.

Renee Mandel – Candidate for Program Director of Class of 2020

My name is Renee Mandel, and I would like to run for class Program Director for the 10th grade.

Three things which I intend to do in the next school year if elected are:

Campaign goal 1: A club day.

I feel that there should be a bigger focus on the clubs that the school has to offer in the future. I have been in a few clubs that do very little during the school year. I believe that we have not really focused on the importance of having these clubs and why they are important. Because of this, I want to have a clubs day (similar to service day). Clubs day will be a day where everybody goes to their focus club and does service for that club. The day may contain field trips or in school activities.

Goal 1 Timeline: Around the beginning of February. (After Midterms)

Campaign goal 2: Grade Garage Sale

Every year, grades need money for school trips, to create sweatshirts, and more. Because of this, I think a garage sale would be a good idea to earn the money that we need. We will take a break/assembly/multipurpose block to sell our old toys, clothes, food, and etc. If we advertise this for the lower school, middle, and upper school, we will have a successful sale! Upper schoolers may sell their old and small clothes to the middle schoolers, our grades can get rid of our old toys to the lower schoolers, and more.

Goal 2 Timeline: Around September or October.

Campaign Goal 3: School Workers Appreciation Block

Our school has wonderful people who work day and night to make sure we have delicious meals and a clean and safe environment. Our lunch ladies and gentleman, security guards, janitors, and police man do so much for our school and deserve more appreciation. Due to this, I want to have a break/assembly/multipurpose block where we go to our advisories and make treats, cards, and etc. to show our appreciation for them.

Goal 3 Timeline: Around end of March and beginning of April.

Andrew Calfa – Candidate for program Director of Class of 2020

My three goals as Program Director for the class of 2020 are

1. I plan to create a service day event in the 1st semester and allow people to create their own service opportunities. I plan to have this event set up at least 1 month before the 1st semester.
2. I want to get college sweatshirts allowed for our grade all year. I hope to have this allowed about 1 month after the beginning of the school year.
3. I also want to allow Uber eats for the tenth grade and am hoping to get this done 1 month into the school year.

I am running for program director.

Asha Yearwood – Candidate for Program Director of Class of 2020

Three things I intend to do in the next school year if elected:

Campaign Goal 1.)

My first goal is to have students send in song requests (of any kind) to me throughout the week. These songs will be added to a playlist that I put together and will be played every Friday on the pool or field speakers.

September 2017 – May 2018

Campaign Goal 2.)

My second goal is to have a movie playing and give out popcorn once a month during multi-purpose block in the sac. This will be a monthly way to relieve the stress and pressure we all face from school.

September 2017 – May 2018

Campaign Goal 3.)

My final goal is to have an open class council meeting when we decide how our Sophomore homecoming shirts are going to look. This way, anyone who wants their voice to be heard can have a say in the decision!

The day of the Class Council meeting – TBA

Program Director of Class of 2020 – Candidates: Tatiana Barnes and Ananda Naves-Penkwitt

Tatiana Barnes – Candidate for Public Relations Director for Class of 2020

• More student involvement: I want the whole class to be involved in activities around our campus including athletic and homecoming events, community service activities, the new center of the arts, and everything else. Making sure that the grade is informed and hyped about upcoming events is my number one priority.
• Coming together: We all have our friend groups, but how often do we actually come together as a class and just enjoy our time together? To just sit together, and share stories and laughs. Perhaps a couple times per year, the upcoming sophomore class will come together and bond. If it is a movie night or game night, just being together outside of a classroom setting to enjoy each other’s company because before we know it, we’ll be graduating.
• Show representation: Make sure everyone is included on the class social media. From Instagram to Snapchat, every student will have some time of recognition on a social media if they would like.

 Ananda Naves-Penkwitt – Candidate for Public Relations Director for Class of 2020

Campaign goal 1: I want to keep the students informed on important events by posting any announcements on the class snap chat, face book or any means through which I can. I know a lot of kids don’t know when and were to be sometimes for meetings so I would like to keep everyone more informed regularly.

Goal 1 timeline: This should remain consistent through out the year.

Campaign goal 2: I would like to set up a class Instagram in order to encourage our grade to become more unified going into sophomore year. Although we have a class snap chat and a face book I know not everyone in our grade has either form of social media so I would like to use an even more popular platform such as Instagram to make sure that everyone I can reach through social media will stay informed.

Goal 2 timeline: I would like to create it at the beginning of the year and have it last indefinitely.

Campaign goal 3: I would like for every student to have more of an impact in decisions made in our class council. If elected, I will post the options for spirit week shirts, colors, or any other decisions deemed fit, on our class snap chat, face book, or any other social media in order for everyone to vote on their favorite option.

Goal 3 timeline: I will post the options on social media after the council has decided on the variety and keep it on there for 3-7 days depending on the urgency of the decision.

Student Government Representatives for Class of 2020 – Candidates: Shaina Bassan, Sofia Cabarcos, Jack Finvarb, Noah Markofsky, Maria Clara Paes, Dylan Turk

Shaina Bassan – Candidate for Student Government Representative for Class of 2020

Class specific uniforms:

For the upcoming school year, I intend to bring back class specific uniforms. I want to make sure that the whole grade loves the sweatshirt design and that they are even better than the designs that we have had in the past. I would also like to make sure that we get the sweatshirts at the beginning of the year this way we can wear them throughout the rest of the school year. Also, when it comes to homecoming, we were able to get shirts this year. Next year, not only do I want to have shirts that represent the class for homecoming, I would also like to get other accessories such as bracelets and hats, so everyone has plenty of gear to represent the class. The purpose of this is to foster class spirit within our grade.

Class team building field trip:

Although we are not having a sleepaway trip our sophomore year, I believe we still need to bond as a class. I believe that right after midterms, everyone seems to be stressed about getting their grades back, and I feel that around this time would be perfect to go on a field trip.During this field trip we would go to a location in miami where they specialize in team building exercises. Here we can do scavenger hunts and different activities to bond more.

More advisory time together:

Due to the schedule change we have less time in advisory. We spend less time together and I would like to change this. Next year, at the beginning of the year, each advisory will pick a charity that they would like to support (a charity that is not already established as a club). Once every month during the multi purpose block, the advisories will meet for an extended amount of time. During this time, the advisories will come up with something they would like to do that month in order to support that charity, this can be advisory bake sale, bringing in items to donate, etc. This way we can help support the community, and spend more time together as an advisory

Goal Timeline:

Class specific uniforms: Start designing at the beginning of September, this way we can place the orders quickly and have the sweatshirts available to students by early to mid October.

Class building field trip: Right after midterms, this way we can have time to spend time together right after an extremely stressful week.

More advisory time together: Start at the beginning of the year and continue on for the rest of the year. Meet together once every month, preferably at the beginning of the month.

Thank you so much.

Sofia Cabarcos – Candidate for Student Government Representative for Class of 2020

Campaign Goals:

1) Get class merchandise such as sweaters, shirts, or sweatpants for the entire upper school.

2) Get a microwave, mini fridge, conventional oven, or blender somewhere in the cafeteria (or other eating location).The students can use them to heat up or keep their food fresh that they bring from home since the fridge and the microwave in the nurse is only for students with dietary restrictions.

3) Make a contest for whoever wins the Spartan Superfan of the month get a free lunch for them and 4 other friends from restaurants like chipotle, juice and java, Holi Vegan, McDonald’s etc.

Goal Time Lines

1) We should get the class merchandise early in the year/around October so that students can enjoy them for the rest of the year.

2) We should get the microwave, mini fridge etc. around the first few weeks of school so that students will be able to use them for the majority of the year.

3) The contest for the Spartan Super fan will start at the beginning of the school year so that students have opportunities to win by going to volleyball, football, swimming, or cross-country games.

 Jack Finvarb – Candidate for Student Government Representative for Class of 2020

Campaign Goal 1: My first goal is to allow sweatpants throughout the whole year for all students in the upper school. I believe as long the sweatpants still

Campaign Goal 2: My second goal will be to improve our class spirit so that we can have chance of winning homecoming during our sophomore year. We will improve this by doing more activities with our peers so that we can connect as one group and not in separate groups.

Campaign Goal 3: My third goal will be to try and get more kosher foods during lunch time, as I know that people such as myself, are kosher and are not allowed to eat many of the meals here at MCDS.

Goal Timeline 1: I would like to begin working on this during September of the 2017-2018 school year.

Goal Timeline 2: I would like to work on this goal throughout the entire 2017-2018 school year.

Goal Timeline 3: I would like to begin working on this goal during the beginning of the 2017-2018 year.

 Noah Markofsky – Candidate for Student Government Representative for Class of 2020

1. I want to make homecoming 10 times better than any other one. More exciting and better teams.
2. To make the school more involved in sporting events for our school and more of a fan base for our teams
3. Have student government and the students more of a say in school decision that effects the students

 Maria Clara Paes – Candidate for Student Government Representative for Class of 2020

Campaign goal 1: Present and execute the idea of having geo tags on snapchat for all major school events.

Goal 1 timeline: Every major school event.

Campaign goal 2: The sophomores will have a meeting before homecoming for everyone wanting to volunteer to do something to share their ideas and discuss

Goal 2 timeline: week before homecoming

Campaign goal 3: Bake sales before school starts so people will be encouraged to arrive earlier and for some students who don’t have time to eat breakfast to be able to get a quick snack

Goal 3 timeline: Weekly but ideally daily

Dylan Turk – Candidate for Student Government Representative for Class of 2020

If I am chosen to be the class representative of my class the following year I will make sure to accomplish these three major goals. I wish to make it easier for kids to start clubs for when I wanted to start up one of my own I was denied to do so. I also would like to see more food trucks and other alternative food choices to what we regularly have in which I will try my hardest to work out a plan with the school administrators to do so. My last goal is I (and I’m sure many of the students here can back me up on this) would like to be able to wear college sweatshirts to school for we are a college prep school after all. All my goals do not have specific dates however I hope to have them completed by the 2018 school year. Thanks you!