Newtown Middle School (NMS) students voted for this year’s Student Council president and vice president on Thursday, October 30.

Student Council co-advisors and eighth grade English/language arts teachers Leslie Duda and Cristina Daddona went all out when it came to planning this year’s elections.

The eight students who ran for Student Council president and vice president had to submit applications and demonstrate they are capable leaders in order to run for either position. To that end, the running students delivered speeches to the rest of the student body on October 29 about why they should vote for them. Several students even put up campaign posters in the hallways, encouraging their peers to pick them.

Everything culminated on Thursday morning, when students came down to the school’s B-Gym to vote during their social studies class. Teachers reviewed expectations for voting before leading their students to the gym. Upon arrival, students watched a brief two minute video of the candidates as a reminder of the speeches.

They then lined up at verification tables, where their fellow students who helped run the election verified their names and passed out ballots.

“The only thing that’s missing is the driver’s license because they obviously don’t have those yet, so they just give them their name,” Daddona explained.

Afterwards, students got a ballot, voted in one of the several cubbies with dividers at the side of the room, and then dropped their ballot into the ballot box.

This year marks the second time the student body has voted for the Student Council president and vice president, according to Duda.

She said they used to have a very informal election process where student council members would give speeches and vote in council. Now, they open it up to the entire school so as to make it “more of a school-wide event.”

Duda added, “We want to get all the kids involved in the voting process, and then also give them a glimpse of what a real life election looks like, too.”

As announced on Monday, November 3, the NMS student body ultimately voted for Allison Zhang as Student Council president and Chase McCormick as Student Council vice president.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.