At Elder High School, only one person can hold the most respected position in the school: Student Council President. Every year Elder students gather in the wrestling gym to hear speeches and promises from the next year’s candidates. Once these speeches are heard, students return to their flex rooms and vote for their next president. This tradition has carried on for many years at Elder, but this year is different.
Nate Esmail, class of 2025, is the current student council president and has been since his win in the election last year. So far, the effect he has had on the school has gone unnoticed, but it’s possible he may go down in the history books of Elder the last elected Student Council President.
This year, Brody Kremm, class of 2026, ran for the presidency unopposed and has been named the next school leader. Since nobody got to hear a speech from Kremm, I decided to reach out to him. “Me and Sam [Bill] have big plans for the future,” he told me, “we want to keep it under wraps right now until we have the chance to talk in front of the whole school.” Kremm did not care to elaborate on his plans because he wants to avoid making false promises before he gets everything worked out.
I wanted to further understand his motivation for running, so I asked about what being president means to him, “It’s an honor to have the power to make real change here. It’s obviously a well respected position, but the win doesn’t feel as good since I didn’t run against anyone.” Kremm was confident that he would win regardless of if someone else ran or not, but his soiled victory raises questions about Esmail’s performance as president.
Esmail’s presidency has possibly been bad enough to draw respect away from the position, creating students who don’t care about being or voting for the student council president. It could also be true that Esmail’s presidency has been so incredibly good that he has united Elder students into one body, and he has created political peace in Elder High School.
This begs the question: what is The real Esmail effect?
