Hey Franco Ouest students! As you all heard today, the new Student Government (GDE) was announced without the need for a vote since there were no double candidatures for the same position. Whether you’re happy about the candidates or not, I’d really appreciate if you took five minutes to hear my story. (I know it’s quite long but please bear with me)

As some of you may know, I had been planning for my potential role as prime minister of our school since I was in grade 7. I was very excited to finally be a senior and finally get my shot at becoming the next leader for my fellow schoolmates. Unfortunately, the years of planning came to an abrupt halt as I heard that the rules for candidacy had been changed. This past summer, the school board reinvented the whole student government constitution to improve the productivity and overall outcome from the elected GDE. Before I go into detail about what exactly happened to me, I’d like to point out that I completely understand why they changed the rules as the government didn’t have much structure in the past years which led to unsuccessful years of governing. In no way am I attempting to take a shot at past GDE members or the supervising teachers.

The brand new constitution clearly states that a candidate would have had to have been part of the GDE last year for any executive role (Prime Minister, Vice Prime Minister, Secretary, Treasurer and Minister of Foreign Affairs). This condition had not previously existed and the Franco Ouest students, especially the ones approaching their senior year, were not notified during the last election that this would be a crucial condition to being permitted to run for an executive role. This sudden change destroyed any possibility for me or many other twelfth graders from any chance of running. But, being the optimistic and positive person that I try to be, I went back to the Cultural Activities office to speak with the faculty member in charge of the student government. I first asked her if there was any chance that I could still have a shot at my dream executive role in an attempt to convince myself that I had at least done all I could to try and find a loophole. After that got rejected with the obvious reasoning that she can’t change the rules, I decided to look at the other posts I was actually eligible for and found another role that I knew I could represent to my best abilities. This was the Minister of Sports, Recreation and School Spirit. Although I’m not implicated in school sports, I planned to team up with my best friend Danika (who luckily IS into sports) so we could both take on the role and make sure that every aspect was given enough attention and dedication. That idea immediately got shot down by the teacher and I was given the excuse that she didn’t want extra people on the committee other than the 19 available posts. No split roles! Since I knew that I could not do that position justice by myself, I directed my interest to the 12th grade representative. This was also under the condition that I would have had to be part of the GDE in the past year except I could also get a letter written by a teacher to explain why I would be a good fit even if I hadn’t been involved before. This turned out to be a great spot for me but I realized while reading the candidacy form that I unfortunately had conflicting schedules between the mandatory three-day training camp and my, also mandatory, first shift at my new job. I decided the GDE was not meant to be for me and was willing to let it go until I witnessed the infuriating injustice at today’s announcement of the newly appointed GDE.

During the announcement today, where all the well merited members were revealed, I was surprised to hear that many roles had been split the same way I had proposed two weeks ago and got shot down. Also, as some positions were still vacant, the teacher invited all of the senior class to participate and take on a role. Since one of these roles was an executive position, and as mentioned before, required the candidate to have been in the government last year, why is she offering anyone to step up and take it now? Obviously the rules can be bent - if not broken. At this time I’d like to point out that only two people out of my whole grade were involved in the GDE last year and both had understandably no desire to run since they already had lots on their plate during this important last year of high school. This meant that aside from two students, none of the entire senior grade was able to run as a candidate. I heard from hallway gossip that many students were wanting to post their candidature for Prime Minister and all of them would have made excellent leaders for our student body. In my opinion, the one person elected to represent and lead the whole school should be a senior because they’ve been through every stage of the school and they are able to fully understand all the issues being brought up by students during their governing time period. In addition, I think that the candidate should have connections with at least one person or group of people from each grade to ensure that the students are comfortable to speak to them in an informal setting and that they are accessible to each and every student.

It’s extremely unfair for the people in my grade to have the door slammed in their face just as they decide to further their implication within the school. I propose that the restricting new rules be lifted for this year to give everyone a fair chance to be a part of the student government and be broadcasted to the students in younger grades as a warning to save the younger grades from getting completely blindsided as I have this year. The new constitution could be put back in place next year since once again, it was made to improve the efficiency and success of the government and will serve as a great help to the future candidates.

In my attempt to take action about the injustice my whole grade has recently endured, I am starting a petition to get the new laws lifted for this year only to give seniors a chance to run for executive positions within the GDE at Franco Ouest. If I get enough names, I will set up a meeting with one of the principals of my school to discuss the matter and show them that we are all united for change and justice within our school. I really hope that you all will take the time to read the novel I just wrote and to sign the petition. It doesn’t matter what grade you’re currently in, or whether you had planned on running for the GDE or not. What really counts is your support for the ones who had their hearts set on leading our school to a brighter and more spirited future.

Please feel free to message me on Facebook or send me an email (emily.tieu14@gmail.com) if you have any questions, comments, or ideas on how to make this movement happen! They will all be welcomed with open arms :)

For those who are somehow not fed up with me yet, I have printed below the mini speech I had prepared in my mind when I was planning to run for Prime Minister.

Before I had received the news of all the changes, I had teamed up with Bigus in an attempt to share the role of Prime Minister to have twice the amount of ideas, inspiration and enthusiasm for this school year and to further unite the school. My main goal for this year would have been to improve our school spirit because lets be honest here, we’re not doing a very good job. I wanted to make our students proud to say they go to Franco Ouest. I’ve been through all of the things you all have been though and I want to make this a school we are proud to call our own. I want this with all my heart. I really don’t want to lie to you and promise things I have no means to deliver simply to acquire votes. I know I’m restricted to whatever budget I have to work with but I really would like to make the most out of it and make this year the best we’ve ever had. This is my last year - my last shot at making a change for the better at Franco Ouest and I definitely think I can take on whatever comes my way. I am very passionate about this role and the effect it can have on every student’s high school experience. I’ll try my absolute hardest to make every activity fun for everyone and really make things interesting. Trust me, I’ve been through 6 years of this school and I know that some activities were put on with good intent for us but really didn’t interest very many people. I’ll take your suggestions and try my hardest to make them happen! We all know the best ideas come from the person complaining to their friends about how things could have been done better so please don’t be shy to come vent to me. I’d love to hear what everyone has to say even if it’s about my own activity. This will allow me to learn and grow from my mistakes so we don’t have any repeat problems in the future.

Finally, to be completely honest I am very emotionally invested in this whole situation and today was a hard day to get through. As anyone in my english class knows, I actually cried because of how betrayed and blindsided I felt after the announcement today but letting that bit of emotion out instead of blowing up at the teacher involved was probably my best option until I had time to calm down and ask for your help. I may never be Prime Minister and that’s fine but I will have accomplished a goal of uniting students if we all come together for justice with an actual election involving some senior students! I sincerely hope you all take this seriously and really believe as much as I do that we can make a change for justice and future fun times! :)

Thanks to everyone who read this all the way though. It would mean the absolute world to me if you got onboard with this and talked about it to your friends, family, teachers or anyone else who will listen. It literally takes less than two minutes to sign the petition to give the smallest amount of support to my cause. If anyone else is feeling the same way as I am, or would like to be with me when I meet one of the principals next week about this, please message me or talk to me at school about it in the next couple days. Thanks again and I really do love you guys so much <3