At the 9th grade class meeting this morning, class officer and student council candidates shared their ideas in brief speeches. But if you missed the meeting, don’t worry! You can listen to the audio recording of the meeting here:

Please scroll down to read 9th grade class President candidate Joe Hagerty’s speech. During the Zoom call, Joe experienced significant problems with his audio, so it was agreed that a written version of speech would better express his ideas.

Thank you for bearing with us, Joe, and pushing through the technical difficulties!

The 10th grade class meeting will take place tomorrow, June 2nd, at 11 AM. The 11th grade class meeting will take place on June 3rd at 1 PM.

The Zoom meeting information will be sent to students’ school email inboxes on the morning of their class meeting.

If any student is unable to attend their class Zoom meeting, they can also listen to a recorded version of candidates’ speeches here at rhinebeckreality.com, which will be posted the day of the class meeting.

Elections will take place this Friday, June 5th.

On Friday morning, ballots will be sent to the school email inboxes of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Students will have until 11:59 PM on Friday to cast their votes.

On Monday, June 8th, election results will be posted here at rhinebeckreality.com.

Here are the candidates for each position:

Below is class President candidate Joe Hagerty’s Speech. You can also find the speech at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DwUgIwVrRKrjLNJAbkx-R0i19hHkeaIhBQYlgS49Uf8/edit?usp=sharing.

Class President Candidate Joe Hagerty’s Speech

Before I begin, I just want to say that I hope you and your families are doing well.

And, before the speech, I don’t want to give a formal speech or read from a sheet of paper. Rather, I want to talk to you as a fellow classmate and a fellow peer.

10 months ago, I found out the high school I was going to no longer existed. An aspect of my life was completely uprooted with no indication that such a thing would happen. Nevertheless, I came here, and I thank every one of you for being so welcoming and so kind.

So, I wanted to give back.

We only had half a freshman year. We are socially distant; you can’t see your friends. There is nothing to talk about or look forward to. If only there was the guarantee of a sophomore year that was twice as fun even at full length. Let me paint a picture……

Let’s take lunch at Rhinebeck. Lunch has two polar extremes. We have the cafeteria (extremely social) and the library (extremely academic). There is also the chorus room but that is only for a specific subset of the high school population. I propose a fourth option, a lounge where students can go to decompress, meditate, and get away from any anxiety in school or the world around them. Speaking of options at lunch, I also propose the incorporation of a ping-pong table. This would not only be feasible, but it would spread out students and allow an activity that doesn’t require a bunch of students sharing a ball (in the case of four square). Further, ping-pong tables generally cost around $200. How do we get this money? Fundraisers.

I propose Friday Night Fundraisers. We have fundraising events but as a new student I would’ve liked more. In addition, they need to be more fun. Student moral needs to be boosted when we come back, and most fundraisers should take place earlier in the year after we return from this difficult time. These include but are certainly not limited to:

• Karaoke night
• Trivia night
• Trivia night against teachers
• Finn proposed a sport game against teachers, like basketball or kickball. We did this at my old school with students against parents. During this event, school spirit and school moral was at an all-time HIGH. Imagine a larger school like Rhinebeck with an event with students against teachers, twice as popular. School spirit and student moral would SKYROCKET
• Silent auction (event for families and students alike to feel entertained; money raised would be immense, prizes could include homework passes for students)
• Bake sales at basketball games considering we will have boys on both teams
• That is not enough
• Coffee Shop Thursdays
  • Student artists and bands would perform their own written songs, music, or poetry in front of a live audience. This audience would be students, faculty and community and provide a chill environment with conversation, live music by students and delicious baked goods made by students as well. I spoke to Mr. Milici about this and it is entirely possible and would be a fun event to do every couple of months.

Finally, talking about student creativity, I propose the addition of a comic strip to the school paper run by the class of 2023. This comic would showcase politics, activism, comedy, school events and keep students informed, entertained and yet again, boost their moral.

But then again, that is just wishful thinking. Or is it? Could such a sophomore year exist? My fellow classmates, not only can it exist, but it will.

Vote Joe Hagerty for class president and Finn Quested as vice president. As class officers, we will create a student government that hears the voices of all students regardless of their thoughts on school and foster an environment for growth, reduce stress and create memories that will be remembered for years to come.