Class officers push for more recognition

Each grade level at East is represented by a selected group of students known as class officers with a variety of  positions including president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary.

“My favorite part of being a class officer would be the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a task. It’s nice to know that I’ve been able to make an impact, whatever the size, on our school,” senior class president Annabelle Carozza said.

The process of becoming a class officer at East involves filling out an application. The application can include questions about what activities students are involved in, why students are interested in that position, and what qualifies them to be that person based on leadership and community involvement. Students must have 25 peer signatures and a teacher reference.

“The application process was a lot more simple than you would expect. I definitely recommend trying to become one if it is something that interests you,” Carozza said.

Together the class officers meet to discuss whatever topics they are focused on for the year with feedback from the student body and staff. For the seniors, for example, they focus on designing the senior class T-shirts and also deciding what the class gift for their year will be given to the school. As of right now, the class gift from the class of 2020 is currently unknown.

“Each year as a class officer comes with a different set of responsibilities. During sophomore year, the main focus was fundraising. Junior year, we primarily worked on prom setup and planning. Senior year, we create the senior class T-shirt, host honors night, and provide the class gift,” Carozza said.

All the grade levels are represented through their class officers at East, even though it’s not as well known of a position. Students may not know who represents them. It is often other groups that get more recognition from potentially interested students.

“There are so many different leadership organizations that class officers just kind of get lost in the crowd,” junior class sponsor Stephanie Halstead said.

Halstead said the students selected are ultimately set as role models for their peers. She said the class officers and other students involved in the organization push for more involvement from students and staff at East.

“I think that if kids knew that we were in charge of prom, they would think differently. I also think that maybe if we did some more activities for the student-body that stood out, people would be more aware.”

The position of class officer and what they do is relatively unknown, but there are ways to help increase knowledge. Halstead says that if underclassmen became more aware of the role and duties of being a class officer then maybe they would be more inclined to pursue joining and partake in the activities and organization.

“I think that we could increase awareness by pushing involvement in the lower grade-levels (sophomores and freshmen), as they also have class officers,” Halstead said. “By the time they were juniors, they would be more aware of what a class officer is and what they do. I also think that we could advertise some of the perks of being a class officer.”