Student Senate Elections Demonstrate Leadership

By Greg Shapiro, Teaching Intern/Apprentice

This year, across all grades, close to 50 Cardigan students mustered the courage to stand up in front of their classmates and give thoughtful speeches about what matters most to them and what they hope to accomplish for the School. During the election process students are divided by grade, and the boys who want to be part of the Student Senate are given the opportunity to speak directly to their classmates before the voting begins.

The process is completely student-led and the only role faculty members played was as facilitators. “The Student Senate elections provide such a great opportunity for students to practice public speaking, speech writing, and they also allow students to practice sharing their voice, which is really what the Student Senate is all about,” says Latin teacher Cooper Hemphill, who was the main facilitator of the elections.

The Student Senate offers a great opportunity for students who may not be official leaders of the school to try and lead by example. Mr. Hemphill echoed this sentiment, “It was especially powerful to see the excellent thought and effort the candidates from the younger grades put into their speeches; leadership can come from anywhere and it is wonderful to give our younger students a chance to develop and demonstrate those skills.” Every student candidate showed courage giving a speech in front of their peers, and those who were elected will be guided by that courage and the other three Cardigan Core Values (Compassion, Respect, and Integrity) as they try to make a difference in the community.

The following students were elected by their classmates in their respective grades to make up Cardigan's 2021-2022 Student Senate:

Sixth Grade

• Cole Brown
• James Frost
• Kai Mansharamani

Seventh Grade

• Terence “Terry” Langetieg
• Alexander Kernisant
• YeChan “Leo” Kim

Eighth Grade

• Freeman Ambrose
• Junhyeong “Jun” An
• Zhimin “Jimmy” Li
• Sunghoon “Willy” Park

Ninth Grade

• Jingkun “Alex” Chen
• Carmelo N'Kumbu
• Alejandro “Ale” Rojas Velasco
• Carter Warren