Divya Khatri and Alexander Ilacqua
Sophomores Divya Khatri and Alexander Ilacqua are committed to a campaign composed of 4 main policies: admin accessibility, more collaboration with local businesses, restarting social events, and emphasizing cultural heritage. In terms of qualifications, presidential candidate Khatri alongside her running mate Illacqua have previously been Vanguard representatives(treasurer and secretary). The two have shown their work and dedication towards their position through the implementation of menstrual products in the women’s restrooms, frequent discussions with The Village High School Administration, and the utilization of the school’s newsletters.
Focusing on administration accessibility, the candidates plan on increasing the number of town halls with the presence of administration and continue with the anonymous reporting question form.
“They (the student body) was saying that admin was inaccessible, that they didn’t really know who admin was,” said Khatri, “So that was what indicated to us that we should bring them to the town hall.”
Reflecting on what was successful in recent town halls, the candidates have seen that administrators have been extremely helpful with their input when students ask questions. In addition, for students that are not comfortable with publicly stating their questions or concerns, Khatri wants to continue the use of the anonymous reporting form, in order for there to be another outlet to hear students’ voices. The intention behind these decisions is to increase the efficiency of communication between the students and the administration.
Coming from the angle of school spirit, Khatri proposes a collaboration with local businesses.
“This not only allows us to work with local businesses, but also make sure that we can get even more cool things for the students,” said Khatri. The possibilities of the business that Khatri plans to work with does not stop at just food for the students, but different types of activities. Ilacqua and Khatri’s campaign presidential candidate supports the idea of restarting social events.
“With COVID, obviously, the quintessential parts of the school next year are in-person events, ” said Khatri, “Those are all definitely going to come back, regardless of who is in charge, but we would obviously want to ensure that we will place an increased emphasis on it.”
If elected, Khatri wants class representatives to really focus on developing in-person events due to the amount of disconnect that the school has faced amidst the pandemic.
Khatri and Ilacqua also emphasize the importance of cultural heritage and want to prioritize this through monthly culture awareness.
“Diversity is a really big part of Village,” said Khatri. “In terms of the student body, you can always see all around you, that there are people from everywhere.” Ilacqua and Khatri see that diversity is greatly underappreciated, and want to have monthly cultural activities during advisory to raise awareness about the range of cultures in the school.
Primarily from a governmental aspect, Khatri and Ilacqua claim that their campaign and ideas are attainable.
“We understand the boundaries of feasibility,” said Khatri. “What we want to do to improve the student body and student life is within our control.”
Having already established a relationship with the administration due to their current governmental positions, the candidates can guarantee a smooth transition.
“We have shown our dedication to our leadership positions,” said Khatri. “We have shown that we are willing to spend hours every week outside of the meetings, working on these initiatives and making sure that they come to fruition.”