Q&A: Class of 2021 Presidential Candidate Gokul Madathil
TATYANA ESQUILIN | APRIL 16, 2018 | Q&A
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (SCPDA) — The 2018 election season is here, along with an incoming group of class officer hopefuls. Be an informed voter and learn about your potential class officers.
DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: What is your motivation for running for class president?
GOKUL MADATHIL: Honestly, I just want to make my class proud because this year has been really fun with organizing stuff for pep rallies, and making people happy. If the class is happy I’m happy.
DA: Do you have any plans that differ from what you did as president this year?
GM: The main thing is involving everyone because this year for art committee we basically just had six or seven people come and work on banners. I want to open that to everybody so we can get more people involved to promote more class unity.
DA: What qualities do you have that put you above the other candidates?
GM: I think that all of the candidates are qualified but the thing that I have that I feel the other candidates don’t is experience in leadership. This year I was class president and in eighth grade I was NJHS president, so I feel like listening and taking feedback from people is one of the qualities that I have.
DA: What are some issues with your class that you would like to address and improve?
GM: I feel like we are still divided based on what middle school we went to. I’ve talked to some upperclassmen about this and they said what usually happens in sophomore year that we become united and stop caring about what middle school we come from. I just want everyone to feel like we’re a family.
DA: What is a good leader to you and how would you embody this as class president?
GM: A leader to me is someone who represents their class. They aren’t above the class but instead represent the opinions and perspectives of everyone in the class.
DA: What are some of the other plans you have for your class?
GM: Basically our whole campaign is still that we have the five main goals. The first one is pep rallies again. Some specific things I have for the pep rallies are to get an official class flag and custom made thunder sticks. The second goal I have is getting long-sleeve dri-fit shirts. I know that some people don’t like long sleeve so I would do a vote on that. The third thing I have planned is to make a class website which will be a platform for everyone to voice their opinions and communicate directly with the class officers. Also I plan to have a class google calendar with upcoming events such as volunteer opportunities. The fourth goal is creating more volunteer opportunities. The whole platform is based off of one main goal: giving back to the community. My class can really make a difference in the world so we should start now. Our goal is to create a platform that provides multiple class-wide volunteer opportunities. This will help with the bright future scholarship and getting a big percentage of college tuition paid for. The fifth goal is class field trips. I know that sophomores don’t really get class field trips but I talked to the sophomore class sponsor and they said it’s really about responsibility and as long as we can communicate with our class and sponsors it should be doable.
DA: What are some weaknesses you have and how do you plan to overcome them?
GM: One of the weaknesses I’ve had is not involving everyone in planning for pep rallies and other activities. Also, not taking feedback from everybody instead of just the people who respond to the polls. I would start trying to talk to more people during lunches or in classes.
DA: Is there anything else you would like your class to know?
GM: This year, if I get elected I’m going to work really hard. I know that all of these goals that I have are completely doable because I’ve worked everything out and put a lot of thought into it, but I just want everyone to know that I’m going to work hard to do the best thing for the class.