Esha Garg and Kahani Malhotra
Junior Esha Garg and sophomore Kahani Malhotra are committed to strengthening the communication, integration, and unity of The Village High School. The presidential candidate Garg has had multiple past and ongoing leadership positions such as yearbook editor, co-president of Girls of Computer Science club, co-president of the Village Academic team, Mu Alpha Theta treasurer, and the National English Honors Society secretary. She has also been a Girl Scout since first grade, which has taught her how to be a leader, make a difference in the community, talk to people older than her, and use her leadership skills to be as efficient as possible.
Firstly, Garg and Malhotra want to strengthen the communication of the school with text message alerts, social media, fireside chats, and an improved newsletter.
“Oftentimes we (students) don’t check their emails or parent square,” said Garg. “So having text message alerts that go directly to students’ phones for things like school closures, lightning alerts, free dress days would really be convenient.”
In addition, the candidates want to continue building on how the school’s social media is being used by starting weekly or bi-weekly Instagram lives to discuss what Vanguard has been working on and address students directly. The candidates also want to implement fireside chats with administration, in order to provide the student body with direct access to them. This way, the student body can hear directly from administration without having to solely rely on Vanguard being the middleman.
As means of integrating the student body, Garg and Malhotra propose a F.A.I.R.(Fine arts, Athletics, International, Residential Life) movement, which entails a more diverse array of events in pep rallies, and the continuation of cultural highlight months.
“We want to properly represent all the students in our school and make sure that we are amplifying their voices within our community,” said Garg. “We plan to create committee sessions with the four types of groups and hear what they need.”
One of the most prominent changes that the candidates are advocating for is the implementation of F.A.I.R. committees to assemble with non-vanguard students and properly represent these four F.A.I.R. groups. The candidates are seeking equal representation of the schools’ programs, as athletics seems to have a greater emphasis within the school community. Lastly, Garg and Malhotra want to continue cultural highlight months, which shed light on different cultures and different marginalized groups.
Through emphasis on school spirit, mental health, and a freshman fish camp, Garg and Malhotra plan to strengthen the unity within the student body.
“Morale has gone down this year due to COVID and because things are online, many people can’t see each other and can’t interact with each other,” said Garg. “We want to make sure that we are bringing back those events in safe ways.”
By bringing back events that used to be held before the pandemic, the candidates believe they can improve school spirit. To address mental health, Garg wants to create quiet spaces around campus that students can use to think and relax. Students would be able to use these spaces during study halls, and during their lunch periods. In order to better introduce the high school to the freshmen, the candidates propose a Fish Camp. The Fish Camp is a freshman orientation where things campus touring, canvas tutorials, and the school fight song are introduced. In addition, Garg and Malhotra want to organize short pep rallies, pizza parties, and ice cream socials for freshmen to meet each other and meet Vanguard.
Garg and Malhotra highlight their efficient campaign by emphasizing their senior-junior presidential duo.
“Whenever seniors and juniors have college counseling, which will basically happen every single advisory next year, nothing gets done in student government because both the president and vice president are gone,” said Garg. “If you have two candidates who are in the same grade, whenever they have college counseling or something that is grade-specific, they will not be there during the student government meetings.”
Because the candidates are from two different grades, when one has to attend a grade-level meeting, the other will always be at student government meetings to get work done. This is a unique feature Garg and Malhotra possess that other presidential candidates do not share. Having the longest total experience in student government(3 years), Garg has a strong foundation and understanding of how student government works and is ready to get started right away if elected.