Foiled!

The previous year in the ninth grade, I ran for Student Council for our sophomore year. There were about 15 of us running for ten slots that were available. Ever since I was in the sixth grade, I had been trying to get into Student Council. The problem for grades six through nine was that Student Council representatives were elected in the individual homerooms, and if you didn't get nominated in class, you stood no chance for getting to serve. All four years, no one would nominate me. For high school, there was just a general election that didn't require a nomination process. You could just run for the slots. (Yes, I know I could have nominated myself those years, but at that time, it just looked really egotistical and I still wouldn't have been elected. It only would have worked if no one else was willing to accept a nomination.)

We each got up and gave our speeches. For some reason, my speech was much shorter than everyone else's. I just said a few things saying I would do my best to represent the students and that was it. Everyone else made these grand statements and outrageous promises that they were not going to be able to keep. When the results were announced, I was not among the top ten. I was not listed among the two runners-up. I don't know where I placed, but I'm pretty certain it was last.

Those results were supposed to be passed on to the faculty member who was in charge of the Student Council. In the event that someone quit, the runners-up would be asked to serve, then the other people who also ran. Somehow, five of the students who were elected withdrew from the Council. I don't know why they did. (I know there was a rule that if you missed two Council meetings, they'd kick you out. That's probably what happened with a lot of them. However, it didn't make sense that they would miss meetings because you got to get out of one class a week to attend them.)

You would think that this would mean that I would be asked to serve. Well, I wasn't. I saw the faculty member in charge of the Council talking to the guy from the previous post who shoehorned his way into a friendship with Dayz. The faculty member appeared to be asking him to be on the Student Council, but I wasn't really certain that was the scope of the conversation, so I didn't say anything.

It was a few days later that I found out that he did indeed ask him to be on Student Council and he accepted. I complained to Mom that the other guy didn't even run the previous year, and I should have been approached to be on Student Council. Mom had no interest in talking to the faculty member, even though his classroom had been across the hall from hers. (In the spring semester, she started teaching a different class in a different building on campus. More on that later.)

Looking back, I realize that I should have spoken up at the time I thought something was going on. However, I didn't want to appear presumptuous and pushy, but that probably would have worked out better for me in this case. However, I'm still mad that five of the more popular students who got elected didn't think much of being on the Student Council when it meant so much to me. They shouldn't have run in the first place. Even worse, in the theme of this blog, it just made me seem like more of a loser because not only did I run for office and lose, but my opportunity to be on the Council went to someone who never even considered serving in the first place.

When elections for Student Council came for Junior year, that wasn't a problem. Only nine students ran for the ten spots, so that guaranteed me a spot. It also meant that those who ran wanted to be a part of it. They announced a write-in winner for the tenth spot, and all ten of us remained on the Council for the entire school year. The guy who took my spot for Sophomore year didn't run. I guess he didn't like being on the Council that much after all.

So, what happened to that guy? He wound up an elementary school teacher in Weatherford, TX. That means he never has to deal with a Student Council. (A side note: I should point out that I don't hate this guy. He was actually a pretty good friend for the most part. He wasn't aware that I wanted to be on Student Council, and I'm certain if I had approached him in a mature manner following his conversation with the teacher and explained my position, he would have requested the teacher ask me to serve instead. But I don't think I was capable of a mature approach at the time. I probably would have just yelled at him and made things worse.)