I was Student Body President of my high school
(Really - no shit.)
Here's how I got elected:
(Mr. RobotoLand, you did ask for a story).
Late in my junior year of H.S., the announcement came out that the elections for Student Body President were going to be coming up soon and everybody who was interested should get signed up. I looked around at the other kids who were planning on running - you know them...the usual suspects...the captain of the football team, the head cheerleader, the kiss-ass ultra amibitious overachiever, etc. I thought to myself, "...wait a minute!
That guy is in my physics class - I'm smarter than him!
She's in my algebra class! I let her copy off of my last test! I'm smarter than
those guys!"
In H.S., I was one of the science geek potheads, (or simply "heads" back in the day) but was on friendly terms with many different "cliques" like the jocks, cheerleaders, band geeks, rednecks, and of course...other potheads. I knew though, compared to the football captain and head cheerleader, that I faced an uphill battle in "getting my name out" amongst the student body at large (there were about 1,200 students at my high school).
One day, before I had fully made up my mind to "throw my hat in the ring", I was talking to my dad about the upcoming election, trying to get some input/feedback from him. "You know what, Dad? The school's having elections for Student Body President soon. I'm thinking about running too..."
Then, in a flash of utter brilliance, my dad said, "Weeelllll, you know what, son? If you're really serious about this...what you outta do is...get on the telephone and call people up and ask them to vote for you."
OMG! It was fucking brilliant!
All of a sudden, I wanted to win this election
real bad.
Back in those days, the school published a Student Directory that had every student's name and telephone number. I promptly got on the phone, and one by one, starting calling every sophomore and junior at the school to ask them for their vote. I kept track of those whom I'd reached, those whom I'd left messages for, those for whom there was no answer, etc. Over the next couple of weeks, I made over 500 phone calls and actually spoke with over 300 people.
I made up "Vote for Steve" posters with Magic Markers on posterboard and put them up all over the school. I made little "Vote for Steve" patches out of construction paper with a little straight pin that you could pin to your shirt. I went all out.
There were six of us candidates altogether. Right before the election, we each had to make a campaign speech in front of the entire assembled student body of the school. I can't remember exactly what I said, but I do remember thinking to myself, "...OK, I don't need to say 'I, me' and 'you, your', instead I should say 'us' and 'our'...like we're all in this thing together..." I wrote out my speech and practiced it in front of the mirror several times until I had it memorized.
The day we gave our speeches, one by one, each of us went up to the podium and gave our pitch to the assembled students. I noticed that most people carried their hand-written speeches up to the podium and then
read them, of course they
sounded like they were reading them too, but I didn't think much of it at the time.
Afterwards, several people who had been in the audience came up to me and said something like, "Wow Steve! Everyone was really impressed that you were the
only one who memorized
your speech..." I shrugged and thought "Oh yeah...huh...I guess I
was the only one..."
The first election narrowed the field from six candidates to four. None of us got a majority of the votes, but I was still in. The first
runoff election narrowed the field from four to two - "Whew! I'm still in." In the final runoff election, it was me versus the captain of the football team (who
was in my physics class and was actually a friend of mine). Then, late in the day on the day of the final runoff election, the Principal came and pulled me out of my algebra class - "Steve, I'm happy to inform you that you are the new Student Body President of Red Bank High School!" "Yippee! OMG! I
won! I did it! I
won!"
Epilogue
It wasn't until after I had won the election that I bothered to ask the question, "Hey, wait a minute...what does the Student Body President actually
do anyway?" The anwer? "Oh, you're the head of the Student Council - you preside over Student Council meetings - you organize school service projects - you coordinate social events with other student service organizations - you preside over assemblies of the Student Body and introduce speakers and special programs and such..."
"WHAT?! I have to do
what again...?" I just wanted to
win. I didn't really want to do all this other bullshit. "Oh well, if that's what I'm supposed to do, then I guess I'd better get busy..." Turns out that being Student Body Pres. was kind of a pain-in-the-ass and a lot of
work to boot. I routinely stayed after school for 1-2 hours working on various projects.
Of course, the position of President had its perks too (don't they all?). Teacher: "Steve - why are you late to class?" Reply: "Oh I'm sorry; I was working on student council business..." I wore that one out pretty quickly though. Principal: "Steve - what are you doing in the hallway during a class period without a hall pass?" Reply: "Oh I'm sorry Mr. Roberts; I was working on student council business..." You get the picture - I 'worked it' as hard as I could.
I have to admit though, being the Pres. for a year completely changed my self-image and did wonders for my self-confidence. It really did change my life. However, I vowed to myself that I would not "get the big head" as we say here in the south (i.e., "get an inflated ego" to those of you from elsewhere).
Along those lines, the year I graduated (1980) the students could still smoke cigarettes on campus (I swear I am not making this up). So, we had a "smoke hole" in the visitors' bleachers of the football field. The teachers
rarely came out there - so tobacco wasn't the only thing that got smoked out at the "smoke hole." This one kid, Billy O., used to bring out a handfull of 10-15 pre-rolled joints everyday before school and sell them (for $1 each!) to the assembed students. So, we routinely "puffed down" right before school started.
I remember one day, this sorta redneck kid says to me, "Hey! What'ur
you doin' out here?!" My response, "Hey man, I'm getting high...just like you..." I will never forget this, he then said, "Man, that's koo...you're the Student Body President and you're out here gettin' high just like the rest of us..." Like I said, being the Pres. changed me in some ways and didn't change me in others...
Red Bank High School - Red Bank, Tennessee - Class of 1980
"We're the class that's on the go! We're the class of...eight-o!"
...but it seemed like such a good idea at the time...
)'(
