Head Student Hustings (1 of 2)

Written by:

Pia Bocanegra, Year 12

On March 17 2014, the Head Student Hustings began; the prospective head students each gave a speech to the senior school students and several members of the staff who all assembled in the bunker. Five candidates, Miguel Ayala, Aileen Chong, Josh Whyte, Sophia Perrett, and Bryan Fong, were selected to begin the first day of the intense and immensely nerve-wracking penultimate stage of the head student selection process.

The order of speeches was finalized just before the start of the Hustings, and Sophia Perrett found that she had the daunting task of delivering her speech first. She began by describing her involvement in various BSM activities such as the Red Cross, Ms. Silver’s productions, and sports. She characterized herself as not being a prototypical overachiever; however, she stated, her effective work ethic is evident in all her endeavors. Sophia spoke about how she considers herself a ‘people person’. It is a firm belief of hers that interacting with others teaches her many things about herself and influences the way she is viewed by others.

Miguel Ayala, on the other hand, began his speech with the mantra, ‘do your best in everything you do’- a highly effective speech opener. This was an important statement that threaded its way throughout his time in BSM, as is evident in his stellar achievements both in academics and in sports. He spoke about how these experiences have helped him to achieve his ambitious goals in life. If anything, the tone of Miguel’s whole speech can be characterized as riveting and lighthearted. His speech, for example, alludes to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech where he speaks about how he is able to dream big because of BSM’s impact on him. Not simply a candidate that endorses life forming ideology, Miguel proposed his very own ‘FITS’ approach to enriching BSM school life This included improving financial literacy, interaction, traffic, and boosting school spirit. 

Peter Bateson characterized himself as a strong supporter of the arts, especially of music, and as an individual who aspires to be well rounded. If given the head student position, Peter said he would increase the opportunities open to students to showcase their talents and passion, which he believes is one of the most effective ways to bolster self-confidence and encourage individual growth.

Bryan Fong’s speech pointed out that one weakness of BSM is the lack of interaction among students and teachers. He felt that it is crucial to provide recognition for students to help them recognize their full potential. Because of his somewhat overlooked involvement in the Winston magazine and MUN, Bryan Fong is a strong advocator of providing students opportunities to showcase their talents. Indeed, Bryan, as a candidate was an interesting character. His main selling point was, if he is able to contribute so much to school life without having been given a formal position, what more could he do if chosen as head student?

Aileen Chong stated that as a student council representative, Red Cross committee head, head stage manager, prefect, and peer mentor, she wants to promote non-monetary incentives for the staff. She felt that one good way to improve the student-teacher dynamic in BSM is to implement motivational workshops with peer mentoring.

On the second and final day of the Hustings, four candidates, Nathalie Limandibratha, Joshua Whyte, Alex Tan, and Miguel Vera, attempted to convince the BSM community they had the qualities to be head students.

Nathalie Limandibratha opened the Hustings with her speech. A student of BSM for over a decade, Nathalie proposed the idea of improving BSM’s school spirit to create a coherent and close-knit community. She presented herself as a determined individual suitable for the head student position because of the passion she has shown in her range of extra-curricular commitments. Although her speech was insightful, it was a pity she did not receive any questions from the audience.

As the current Sports Captain, Josh Whyte’s speech highlighted his interest in improving BSM’s school spirit. After spending most of his childhood years in BSM, Josh stated that the head student position will allow him give back to the school who has moulded him into who is he is today. He mentioned several problems he wanted to tackle if he were to be given the head student position, including the Wi-Fi ‘crisis’ and the current BSM food problem. Josh ended his speech with the three characteristics he espouses: respect, action and passion. A student from the audience asked Josh, ‘What did you learn from being a Sports Captain?’ Josh responded by admitting that he realized his weakness with organization but came back strong and added that his learned from his mistakes.

Alex Tan opened her speech with a Michael Jordan quote about teamwork, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and hardwork wins championships” because she strongly believes that collaboration achieves success.  In addition, she stated that she wants to affect change by breaking the communication barriers between the teachers and the students; these barriers, she opines, if relaxed, may mean opinions may be more willingly expressed. At the end of her speech, she labelled herself a strong advocator of the student voice and an individual who is willing to work towards change. A student from the audience asked Alex, “Do you think you have an edge over other candidates because your sisters were previous head students?” Alex responded that her sisters have undoubtedly set the standard for her to meet. However, she hopes to differentiate herself from her sisters by meeting and even exceeding those standards as head student.

Miguel Vera has shown his ability to balance academics and extra-curricular commitments, such as basketball, drama productions – for instance, ‘Some Like it Hot’ - and the BSM Direction 2.0, a boy band that was organized by Miguel last year. Miguel confidently stated that he is willing to go out of his comfort zone and help BSM students showcase their talents. He felt that there is an opportunity to improve school spirit by arranging a ‘Clash of the Lions’ day, a day when students’ achievements in sport, art and music are celebrated.

Faced with nine strong candidates, it can be said that the BSM community faced the truly difficult task of selecting two who they believed would make the best Head Students.

Next week a more light-hearted section on the humourous questions that were posed to candidates will be published, including, of course, their answers.

Written by:

Pia Bocanegra, Year 12

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