By: Jefferson Hou (7A), Sean Cua (7A) and Jared Kuo (7E)

The winners of the Grade School Student Council Elections were presented to the student body and took their oaths of office on September 25, 2009. The winners of the election were as follows:

President: Francis Tan, 7A

Vice President: Timothy Tan, 6F

Secretary: Percival Lao, 7F

Treasurer: Jose Eduardo Reyes, 7C

P.R.O.: Russell Tee, 7C

Grade 4 Batch Representative: Rylle Tee, 4C

Grade 5 Batch Representative: Joel Atienza, 5G

Grade 6 Batch Representative: Ranald Ong, 6H

Grade 7 Batch Representative: Vincent Soliven, 7B

The SC Elections is a very much awaited event by everybody. The two parts were the Miting de Avance and the Elections itself. This year the parties “The Dawn, “All Access,” along with one independent candidate, Westin Perez, will all be competing for who will truly be victorious in the 2009 SC Elections. But first let’s get to know the two parties: “The Dawn”, who is headed by Jacob Lim and “All Access”, who is headed by Francis Tan.

The campaign period for all the candidates culminated with the Miting de Avance. All of the nineteen candidates and their proposed goals were formally introduced last September 17, 2009 at the Fr. Rafael Cortina Sports Center. All the candidates made their speeches to persuade the students from Grades Four, Five, Six and Seven to vote for them. The event began with a prayer led by the host of the event and the co-manager of the COMELEC, Thomas Co of 7B followedby the singing of the National Anthem.

A brief look at the candidates and parties:

“The Dawn’s” candidates:

President: Jacob Lim, 7B

Vice President: Paolo Joquino, 6B

Secretary: Percival Lao, 7F

Treasurer: Wilrich Lim, 7F

P.R.O.: Russell Tee, 7C

Grade 4 Batch Representative: Rylle Tee, 4C

Grade 5 Batch Representative: Rhenz Tee, 5C

Grade 6 Batch Representative: Sean Yu, 6G

Grade 7 Batch Representative: Johan Yao, 7C

The Dawn as a whole had three common goals. First is to serve the community. Each candidate wanted to help any Xaverian in need of help. The second common goal that they had is to have a suggestion box so that they can receive feedbacks or any suggestion regarding the school. Lastly, they would like to raise awareness of environment degradation and global warming.

“All Access” candidates:

President: Francis Tan, 7A

Vice President: Timothy Tan, 6F

Secretary: Patrick Chua, 7F

Treasurer: Jose Eduardo Reyes, 7C

P.R.O: Fitzroy Sy, 7A

Grade 4 Batch Representative: Rafael Ang, 4F

Grade 5 Batch Representative: Joel Atienza, 5G

Grade 6 Batch Representative: Ranald Ong, 6H

Grade 7 Batch Representative: Vincent Soliven, 7B

“All Access” has set some goals for itself. One is to help out in promoting peace in the school campus by encouraging others to join the Anti-Bullying campaign. They would also want to raise awareness of environment degradation and global warming, and to give suggestion boxes, so they can receive feedback and comments about the school. Forming study groups would be another goal for them as they help us maximize our learning capacity, and as an added bonus, bring us closer bonds to our classmates. Their next goal is to make Xavier a more unified school by conducting more events such as the games and friendly competitions that we have during special occasions that bring about good traits such as sportsmanship.

But this event was far from over for the SC candidates, After the other students left, the candidates were asked to stay behind for an inspirational talk from the Grade 6 Student Council Moderator, Mr. Alexander Santos. He explained that there should be no sore losers or bad winners, and that just because a candidate won doesn’t mean the other one is less skilled. The session then ended with a prayer and a group hug.

On the afternoon of September 18, 2009, the 2009 SC elections were conducted with the competing parties: “All Access” and “The Dawn” alongside one independent candidate: Westin Perez. All the students from grades four, five, six and seven were in their classrooms thinking wisely on whom to vote for, and later the classrooms were filled with excitement when the students dropped their votes in the ballot boxes. Not knowing who would win in the elections, all the students were nervous and would really be eager to know the next people who would be the next leaders in the Grade School Student Council. Overall, the elections were organized and orderly.