As the end of the year approaches, students from every grade put up posters around the school and advertise on their social media accounts in hopes of getting elected as class president, vice president, secretary or treasurer. Candidates pick their best qualities and spice up their hopes and dreams for the class, attempting to make themselves look appealing to the voters and so they can take on their dream role for next year.

This year, the competitive and unrelenting fight for these spots by the 2025 class was dominated by the promise of one, great main event, the junior banquet.

Every year, the junior class scrambles to raise money for the banquet and every year, students are increasingly disappointed. Fewer and fewer students bother showing up to events and prefer going out to dinner with their friends instead of being invited back into the place where they already spend eight hours a day learning. “When I went to the banquet, there were no people there. I might have gone too early, but because a lot of people had plans to go to other places like D.C. or for dinner. I think it stayed relatively empty,” junior Brielle Rudolph said.

Class leadership candidates decided to step it up by promising an enjoyable junior banquet for all, and two main ideas for the event surfaced, differentiating the two presidential candidates, sophomores Kian Hamidzadeh and Noah Freidman. The ideas were to either scale up the whole banquet by placing it in the Lakewood Country Club, inviting people to dress up and go all out for the night, or to have the class come out for a relaxed movie night on the football field. “After participating in the class of 2024 junior banquet, I immediately started to look at where they stumbled and where my class could improve. The largest problem with the planning and execution of these events is commitment. If the officers and leading members of the classes don’t prioritize their class on top then all the events will end up average and planning members won’t be motivated to commit if their officers don’t show enthusiasm,” Hamidzadeh said.

While both candidates had plenty of valuable qualities, students chose to focus on the banquet and the debate began on which idea was better. “I wanted to have a fancier banquet so that my friends and fellow classmates could have a great experience. I believe in the idea of the banquets; a formal event where you feel luxurious. People don’t want to dress up in a three piece or a dress just to go to Wootton or a place where they are treated the same as always,” Hamidzadeh said.

The current elected president, Noah Freedman, and vice president, Naima Cho, have yet to settle on a solid idea for the banquet but people seem to enjoy the idea of a quieter get-together rather than a fancy banquet. The two had separate ideas that they favored for the banquet, Freidman sticking to his original idea of movie night and Cho wanting to host a fancier event for her classmates. “We are going to get the opinions of our class to see which people prefer but Noah is very open to other ideas, he’s actually leaning towards the Lakewood junior banquet because it’ll be easier to organize,” Cho said.