Q&A: Class of 2021 Presidential Candidate Fabrizio Gowdy
TATYANA ESQUILIN | APRIL 16, 2018 | Q&A
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (SCPDA) — The 2018 election season is here, along with an incoming group of class officer hopefuls. Be an informed voter and learn about your potential class officers.
DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: What is your motivation for running for class president?
FABRIZIO GOWDY: To be honest, we haven’t really done that well in our first year. People try to claim that we have, saying “Oh, we’re just freshmen,” but i think we could have better leadership. A lot of upperclassmen see us as a joke. This year we are at the bottom of the food chain but next year we will be moving up and we can’t be seen as a weak class. I see a problem not in just the class governments but the student government has lacked the desire to make any changes in the school. They’re fine with sticking with the status quo, put on some social events, and have some fun. I think we need leaders who are gonna make better changes for the students in our school.
DA: What do you have to offer for your class?
FG: I’m naturally a leader, I haven’t had the opportunity yet to hold any student government or leadership positions but in things like group projects, I’m naturally the person to always step up.
DA: What plans do you have for your class next year?
FG: I’d like to get the gym open in the mornings for student recreation, which is actually very feasible. We have around 100 teachers listed on the faculty and staff and 180 days of school, so if each teacher volunteered for two days, giving an hour of their time each year we could have an extra 30 minutes every morning for student recreation. I would also like to put recycling bins in every classroom, especially because on the last day of school we throw out a ton of paper. There are stacks of books in the trash, it’s just terrible, it’s a waste. I want to create more volunteer opportunities, especially around the school. We could have school beautification projects where people could get easy volunteer hours. We have all of these great volunteer opportunities but for some people it’s hard to get to those; if we had more accessible volunteer opportunities it would help those who may not have the transportation to get to some of the others.
DA: What qualities do you have that put you over the other candidates for class president?
FG: I’m very motivated, which is a good part of what it takes to make change. I’m determined and I’m not going to quit easily. Even if I get resistance from administrators I won’t just back out of it, I will try to find a way to make it work out.
DA: What does being a good leader mean to you and how would you embody that as class president?
FG: I think it means not caring about only your interests but the interests of the entire class, just because you think something is a good idea doesn’t mean the majority of the class will think it’s a good idea. We have democratic elections, so you have to be a democratic leader. You have to have a feel for what everybody wants, you have to get people involved so that they feel they are active in making changes. You have to incorporate everybody.
DA: How do you feel about the other candidates?
FG: They’re all good people, they all could be decent class officers but I think I have certain qualities and certain ideas that make me a better choice. I also think if you have something that’s not working, you shouldn’t stick with it, you need to change things up. Right now, as a class, we’re not doing so great so it shouldn’t be in our interest to keep what we have right now. We need to seek change. Whoever we elect this year might do better, or might do worse but I think what we have isn’t working and that is the most important thing to keep in mind.
DA: Is there anything else you want your class to know?
FG: As a class, we’re still kind of fragmented based on our middle schools so we’re not united. I know that’s a cliche thing people say when they’re running for president but just from talking to people I see that we still identify with our middle schools. We haven’t gotten to the point where we can say “We’re Stanton freshmen,” so I feel like we could really use someone who is going to move us forward. We also need someone who is good at coming up with ideas and being resourceful. As freshmen, we don’t have years past of stuff for pep rallies and next year we have to work with what we have and I think I’ll be good at doing that.