LOHS Class of 2021,

The election for your class officers is coming up. On about May the 20, Sydney Seymour reached out to me for my support in her campaign; I do not attend LOHS anymore, so I will not be voting myself, but I have elected to make this statement on the election. I will do so while looking at each of the presidential campaigns that I’m aware of (Sydney Seymour, Cameron Iizuka, and George Danzelaud), and remaining as objective as possible.

When deciding on who to vote for, I think you should look at two main things. These include: (1) the content of their character, and where their heart is at;  and (2) what their campaign is (what they say they will do in office). While deciding who to vote for, you should consider what is important to you about these two aspects. I have spoken with each of the candidates, and will now give my person thoughts and opinions on each campaign.

Sydney Seymour actually reached out to me about her campaign. This tells me right away that she cares, and is willing to put in the work to get elected. You should always respect hard work. She told me about how she wants to make senior year the best it can be, which would include a lot of events just for seniors, having cool giveaway prizes, and a few other things. I can tell that she cares about having a fun and exciting experience as a senior. After all, seniors are the best.What struck me the most, was that she told me she wanted to focus on the mental health/wellbeing of the students. I think that this is a very important thing. Don’t call me a heretic, but LOHS can have a negative impact on students’ mental health, and something needs to be done about that. If I were to vote for her, this would be the main reason why. She also made a point that she has leadership experience, which, honestly I don’t care much about; I say that anyone can get involved regardless of what they’ve already done in the field, but if that’s important to you, that’s fine.

I cannot speak highly enough of George Danzelaud as a person. When I reached out to him for his comments, he was so nice and personable, and seemed legitimately happy to talk to me, and to talk about his campaign. He spoke to me mainly about making senior year as good as possible. He wants to get more people involved with things like Mayfete, spirit weeks, etc., including getting more people to vote for ideas. I think this is very important. I have seen a considerable lack of school spirit at LOHS; it’s as if the students have forgotten that their school is the best. I got the feeling from George that he will do his best to help fix that.  He also told me that he wanted to put the extra money from the cancelled prom this year toward a Valentine’s Dance, or some other event that the class would want. Now, I, personally, don’t care too much for the dances, I’ve tried the dating thing here in Pendleton, and it’s not really my thing right now, my date for the next school dance will be “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” and we’ll slow dance to “Battle of the Heroes.” However, I know that other people care about such things, and I really like that George is thinking ahead about what to do with that money. Additionally, he mentioned that he wanted a water balloon fight, which sounds epic.

I think that Cmeron Iizuka should have been the ASB president. I have nothing against Clark, and I think he will be great, but with my personal experience with Cameron,  I think she should have won that election. However, that does not mean I am saying that I automatically endorse her for this one (and that doesn’t mean she should not win this one), that will not influence my thoughts on this election; if it influences yours, that’s not my fault. I’ve worked with Cameron many times in the past, and I can tell you that she knows what she’s doing. She told me mostly about how she wants to lead with inclusivity, and that she wants to give the power and choices to the students. She also briefly mentioned increasing awareness for mental health, and some other related things, which is good. She acknowledged to me that she knows next year will likely not be “normal” but wants to make the best out of it. She also told me that she cares about the school and the people in it.

I hope that this information was useful. I will not explicitly say who to vote for, as I will not be voting myself. I think that all of the options are very good ones, and the two losers should still be involved with the school, but if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on George having the best chance at winning. Please share this message. 

—Ryan “Eric” Meerdink