Michael WaNDel, Staff Writer
The time has come in the Oratory school year to elect a C.E.O for the ninth grade. The candidates we have this year are Ryan Briggs, Joseph D’ Angelo, Patrick Heffernan, Carlo Lutero, William Mainente, Steven Mezzomo, and Corey Vita. With seven students running for the same office they will each have to come up with their own way to persuade the ninth grade students that they are the best for the job.
In terms of promotion Carlo Lutero was the first out of the gate. He and his supporters gave out pins bearing “Vote for Carlo”, much akin to Napoleon Dynamite. The other candidates caught up to Carlo in terms of advertisement and their posters are currently scattered across the halls of Oratory. Carlo and Joseph even gave out brownies and candy to win more support. However, Steven Mezzomo and Corey Vita have not put up any posters, and have not put as much time into the campaign process. I think that they are saving all their energy and power for their speeches and questions from the voters. With posters all around the school and supporters of the candidates telling them to vote, one thing is certain: they will have their own minds to make on this decision and this will differ from person to person.
I interviewed the candidates to see what they were like and how they would react to an interview. I only asked the most important question in my opinion: “What will you do for our students if you are elected 9th Grade CEO?” Most of the candidates assured me that they want to have more school events or dances, but they differed from one another. Will Mainente said that he would try to lower the price of cookies at lunch and make Dunkin Donuts available for students every morning in the lunch room, which is a very tasty promise. Joseph D’Angelo said that he would change anything wanted, a very confident promise for a candidate to propose. Corey Vita said that he would try to have more semi-formal dances and another school Olympics. Lutero said that he would try to help students with any problems students have and better the Oratory experience for them. Patrick Heffernan and Ryan Briggs spoke of having new events at Oratory, but Heffernan also proposed having a special mass on St. Philip Neri’s feast day and improving old Oratory events. All of these promises are made by the candidates to get students to vote for them, but only time will tell if the student elected will fulfill his promises to his fellow ninth graders.
The ninth grade has been divided between the supporters of the various candidates and those still undecided. I spoke to ten ninth graders to get a general consensus on the upcoming student council election. Six of the ninth graders I talked to said that they were undecided on who to vote for and are waiting for the speeches to decide. Two students favored D’Angelo, one student favored Vita and another favored Heffernan. Their reasons for supporting these candidates was that they had prior experience in leadership positions and are good for the job. The speeches will be the deciding factor in this election.