On Wednesday, April 24, the freshman, sophomore and junior classes gathered in the Moore Pavilion to listen to speeches by the seven candidates running for an Associated Student Body (ASB) position for the 2024-2025 school year. The candidates included juniors Luci Caron, Hailey Degnan, Sally Khoury, Hailey Kockos, Emilia Luis, Bella Svanberg and Nina Wall.
Only six of them could be elected to fill the spots of graduating seniors, including President Annie Lester, Vice President Caitlin Degnan, Athletics Director Julia Oliveira-Killmon, Spirit Director Mallory Moore, Activities Director Francesca Arbelaez and Director of Communications Helena Morell.
ASB serves as the student council that represents the entire student body. They manage the weekly emails and morning announcements as well as organize rallies and other events, such as Welcome Back to School and the Dingbat Day rallies, Winter Spirit Week and, most notably, Aquacades. ASB also helps the Ambassador Board with prospective student events and the Link Crew Board with freshman class events.
Prior to elections, the seven candidates spent the week filling out and signing paperwork, creating campaign posters for the bulletin board and, most importantly, practicing for their speeches.
After they listened to the speeches, the freshmen, sophomores and juniors returned to their homerooms and voted for their top four candidates through a Google Form. At the end of collaboration, the announcement was made over the intercom that Caron, Degnan, Kockos, Luis, Svanberg and Wall would serve on ASB for the upcoming school year.
The newly elected officers are looking forward to working with Director of Student Life and Leadership Alisia Bergholm to plan an exciting school year ahead. As current members the junior class council and former members of the sophomore class council, they have been an integral part of monthly student council meetings, which allow them to get a preview of upcoming events, rally games and spirit week themes. These meetings also give the four classes the opportunity to provide feedback to ASB about what they should incorporate into the year.
“I definitely want to add more rallies centered around holidays. I feel like Notre Dame … thrive[s] off of the rallies and events,” said Kockos.
Kockos has also expressed her goal of getting more student participation in class events outside of school hours. She believes that supporting participation, such as movie nights, would encourage class camaraderie and, in turn, create strong connections that would help them win Aquacades.
Bergholm and the current ASB members collaborate in choosing the positions of the new members to ensure an effective leadership team for the new year. The current ASB will play a vital role in helping the new ASB assume their new roles throughout the next few weeks.
Their positions will be officially announced to the NDB community on Class Day on May 31. Each departing ASB officer will present the one who succeeds them with a navy stole with gold letters, marking their induction as an ASB officer. Over the summer, Caron, Degnan, Kockos, Luis, Svanberg and Wall will participate in a work week to put their plans for the new school year into action.
