As our Student Council began its election process for next year, these 3 ladies stepped up to run for Senior Class President: Sarah Bol, Penelope Hermosillo-Elrod, and Olivia Little. In this interview, we explore their thoughts, feelings, and plans for Student Council and their senior year in general.
How long have you attended Sahuaro?
Sarah: “I’ve attended Sahuaro for all four years.”
Penelope: “I’ve gone to Sahuaro since my freshman year, so 3 years now.”
Olivia: “3 years”
Have you been in StuCo before, and if so, for how long?
Sarah: “I’ve been in Student Council since my freshman year. I was first elected as a member-at-large, and then I was senator for my sophomore year, and then this year I’m parliamentarian.”
Penelope: “I’ve never been in StuCo before, but I’ve done other things like NJHS (National Junior Honors Society) in middle school; I just didn’t have enough time like to commit to it until I was in my senior year.”
Olivia: “This is my 1st year, so 1 year.
What do you like about StuCo?
Sarah: “Honestly, I just like having a say in like everything that we do at Sahuaro and just making sure that everything’s running smoothly and we’re doing everything that we’re supposed to do.”
Penelope: “I like how they take control in the way that they like do things for the school, like I feel like they’re the most active club on campus.”
Olivia: “I really like how we’re just like all a community, all trying to better the school.”
Why do you want to be a part of StuCo next year?
Sarah: “It’s my senior year, I’ve been in Student Council since I was in 3rd grade, so it’s just been like a long journey, and, I don’t want it to end with my junior year.”
Penelope: “I feel like I actually like going to the school, and I just feel like I could definitely help with like when it comes to having things like school spirit, and then I’m good at like problem solving, and I feel that I’m pretty good at communicating with like all different types of people.”
Olivia: “We all put a lot into making the school a better community for everybody, and I like being a part of that, I like being involved in doing that.”
Why do you want to be Senior Class President?
Sarah: “Because I think I just know a lot about what needs to be done, like how to run things around Student Council here at Sahuaro, and I have a lot of good ideas for our senior year, and I want to make it our best one yet.”
Penelope: “Probably for a similar reason, I just really feel like I’m good with working with people and like I’ve been told I’m good at like, when it comes to delegation, and I feel like I could be a strong part of the team.”
Olivia: “I feel like I can connect to our senior class next year, I know a lot of teachers.”
What are your plans for next year if you win Senior Class President?
Sarah: “If I win Senior Class President, I’m definitely going to make sure that our class is funded a lot more. We’ve kind of been lacking on our funds and our allocating, and then making sure that our big events like prom, graduation, and senior sunrise/set all those run smoothly and are very nice and enjoyable for the rest of our class.”
Penelope: “If I win Senior Class President, I’ll probably, I don’t know, I plan on just making sure that things go smoothly, and like everyone who has something to say, it is at least heard, even if their idea isn’t used. It’s actually about everyone as a team, like it’s a presidency, like a democracy, not just one person in charge.”
Olivia: “My plans would be to listen to everybody’s ideas and what they would want for senior sunrise. I kind of want to do a senior movie night at the school. I feel like that’d be good, and just have like different senior activities cause we’re really never gonna cross paths with these people ever again, so just things that like bring people together.”
Do you have other leadership experience?
Sarah: “Yes, currently in my job, I’m becoming a manager right now, and then I’ve also led multiple committees within Student Council, and I’ve also led multiple volunteer experiences and stuff like that within our band as well.”
Penelope: “I was Vice President in middle school, and then I’m Vice President of my club for orchestra, and I feel like orchestra has actually helped me a lot when it comes to being a role model, like especially this year as an upperclassman, we have a lot of freshmen in that class. I’ve also worked with a lot of kids, like, I do volunteering at my church, and I deal with like younger kids a lot, but obviously that’s different from high school students, but I know how to communicate with people, like I’ve had to talk to adults even in that setting.”
Olivia: “Yeah, I do a lot of volunteer work, I serve, I’m like a hostess, a volunteer hostess. I’m the head of that volunteer club that’s at church.”
What have you done to campaign?
Sarah: “Well, I’ve posted a bunch of posters all over the halls, like almost every single hallway has one of my posters in it, and then I’ve also been sharing stuff on Instagram, like stories and posts and such.”
Penelope: “I’ve put up posters around the school, I feel like I picked things that were like commonly known but like interests of mine that like kind of show like my own humor and my own parts of my personality that maybe people who don’t know me can like see through that. But I didn’t do anything too crazy outside word of mouth.”
Olivia: “I’ve made posters, I’ve gone around asking people if they voted.”
What has been your favorite part of campaigning?
Sarah: “Probably coming up with my ideas for the posters. There’s one poster that I’m really proud of in the 100s, and it’s my ‘Sarah Bol Gives You Wings’ one. I really liked that idea.”
Penelope: “My favorite part is probably just like seeing how many people support me and like actually want me to win. I didn’t realize that it would be a big deal, honestly, when I decided I wanted to run, but also just like the other nominees, talking to them, I really enjoy the people I’m running against, like it’s gonna be truly a good competition no matter who wins, and just like talking to them, I feel like it’s a good community.”
Olivia: “Making the posters was fun!”
What has been the hardest part of campaigning?
Sarah: “Just getting the word out. I feel like a lot of people don’t really look at the posters on the hallway, and so I think that if you make it like really bright and you know, like oh that catches my eye, then that’s probably the hardest part.
Penelope: “The hardest part is probably I don’t know, I feel like maybe just the nerves of just not being afraid to ask someone their opinions about things, or like even just talk about myself to people who I don’t talk to all the time, like I feel like that’s kind of hard.”
Olivia: “Probably just like doubting myself.”
What are you most excited about next year?
Sarah: “That’s hard. I’m most excited about picking our student class guest speaker at graduation because that’s something that we get the honor of doing at Sahuaro as Student Council. So that’s probably something I’m really looking forward to.”
Penelope: “I’m just really excited about the time that I’ll have to actually like to devote to Student Council, like I chose the classes I did for a reason so that I could spend more time on my electives.”
Olivia: “I’m most excited for all the events that we have going on for senior year.”
What is your advice to next year’s students who choose to run for office?
Sarah: “Don’t stress about it. It’s really not that big of a deal. I mean, it’s a pretty easy process, even though it seems complicated, and just make sure that you study up on your constitution so that you can pass the test again.”
Penelope: “I would say just like be bold in your sense of humor, or like just things that you care about. If there’s like a certain issue that you’re really trying to go against, like make sure people know about that, but as far as like posters and things, don’t be afraid to use the niche jokes!”
Olivia: “Put yourself out there, make more than 3 posters, really just feel confident in yourself. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it, and life moves on!”
Anything else you’d like to say?
Sarah: “Vote Sarah!”
Penelope: “I’m just really excited to see what the results are either way!”
Olivia: “Believe in yourself, don’t ever doubt yourself, if things don’t work out the way that you had hoped, they will work out the way that they’re supposed to!”
Today, May 1st, after 2nd period, our last pep assembly of the year will be held. The theme is ‘Neon Out!’, and about halfway into the assembly, Student Council will announce its winners of office for the 2026-2027 school year.
