Ever run for office? (School, club, organization, politics, etc.) Did you get elected?
My brief foray into politics, although only school politics were as follows:
Back in the 9th grade, when 9th graders were the kings and queens of ther domain, back when freshmen were the top and not the bottom of the totem pole, I was a member of the Pep Club. If you know me now, you know how friggin goofy that sounds. I can't remember if it was exclusively the freshmen that were allowed to join, but I tend to believe this was the way it was. I guess I was fairly well known at school, of course it helped that I stood out as one of a handful of black kids at our school. At any rate, the PC needed a president and more than anyone, my favorite English teacher, Mrs. Cocciolone, encouraged me to run. (It's pronounced like 'leave the coach alone' in case you were wondering.) I never questioned her motives at the time, but I have an idea that there was a reason.
Only one other person decided to run for president. Her name was Shane Santini. I'm sure you're well aware, especially in a junior high situation, that there are "the cool girls". Shane was one of them. Once I found out that she was running, I figured that I didn't have a chance. But on that election day, I learned something. Two things, actually. One, everyone doesn't like the cool girls. Two, teachers don't always like the cool girls. I really think Mrs. C pushed me to run simply because I wasn't a troublemaker…or at least the kind of troublemaker that was a headache for teachers.
So, between the votes of my friends and whatever the teachers did to the ballot box, I became the new Pep Club president. My first order of business was to award the ""Spirit Stick" to the grade that was the loudest at the next pep rally. I was scared crapless as I now had to get on the microphone, in front of the entire school, and speak. It turned out okay. I think that really helped me with my public speaking and just flat out acting silly in front of many, many people. Thanks, Mrs. C.
My second trip wasn't nearly as exciting or even interesting. Our senior class needed a president, vice, secretary and treasurer. While we were a pretty intelligent class, no one was really interested in this sort of thing. One person ended up running for each position. Hence, I was the class secretary. BORING!
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