On Monday, April 14, Adam Chan and Jake May (V) were elected as the Fieldston Student Government’s new co-presidents. After thoughtful speeches from all the candidates the previous Thursday, it came down to Fieldston’s first ever three-way tie, among Myles Cameron and Savannah Stern, David Fishman and Lucas Phillips, and Adam Chan and Jake May. Emerging as victors, the duo acknowledged that the other candidates’ “speeches were great,” and that they admired their “commitment and hard work.”
Fieldston News: Why did you decide to run with each other for FSG Presidents?
May: I’d been planning to run for a while…since I was in eighth grade. I originally was supposed to run with someone else but they decided not to, so I asked Adam because we’ve been close for a long time, I knew him well, and thought he would be good to work with because he’s very responsible, very hard-working, and cares a lot about the school.
Chan: I agree – I feel similarly about Jake. We make a good team.
FN: When did you know you were going to run?
Chan: Earlier this year, probably around January.
FN: Did you expect to win when you first decided to run together?
May: At first I thought we had a solid shot, but as the race was approaching, there were other groups and I thought we didn’t really have the best chance. But then I thought our speech went pretty well, and obviously it did cause I think we came up from behind and grabbed a lot of votes. Once it went to the runoff, I really had no idea who would win.
Chan: I was always more pessimistic than Jake – I thought it was going to be a long shot, but our speeches went very well. I’m happy that the student body thought we would do the best job.
FN: What do you think made you two stand out?
Chan: I think it was in our speech, where we said we were the candidates who were the most hardworking, dedicated, and committed to Fieldston. Everyone came up with different ideas for the future of our school, but people should not base their votes off of ideas, and I think people saw that.
May: Yeah, I think it’s really about how our speech was blended. There was some humor, but it wasn’t a performance. We were really out there to show everyone what we could do.
Chan: [interrupting] And obviously, we are the best looking. So that might’ve been what made us stand out.
May: [laughs] Or Adam is, at least. But in all honesty, I’ve learned from this election that speeches are the most important part of the whole race – our posters weren’t up until later, and most people didn’t know that we were even running.
FN: What are some of your plans?
May: I definitely care about getting money that the student body can spend. For example, maybe we’ll have a lot of fundraiser opportunities, then use that money to do things that will better the student body’s experience at school, whether those are recreational (such as a ping pong table), or more practical (such as printers.) Other than that, it’s really just what the students want to see happen. If you go back to our speech, we didn’t actually make very many campaign promises – but we really want to hear from the students and see what they care about. That’s what we are hoping to do.
FN: How do you guys feel now that you are now FSG presidents?
Chan: Pretty good! We’re happy and relieved that we won and that the student body supported us. We’re eager to start working for the students.
May: We’re very excited, and definitely relieved now that the race was over, because it was very stressful.
FN: This past week’s presidential tie was Fieldston’s first ever three-way tie, so I can definitely see how that would be stressful. What were your thoughts on that? Did you expect to win?
Chan: I’m honestly going to say yes – after the tie, we’d gotten a lot of positive feedback about our speeches, so I was more confident than before. But still very nervous.
May: I wouldn’t go as far as a firm “yes,” but I did think we had a good shot at winning. Although the tie was very nerve-wracking and stressful, it was also very cool to be a part of.
FN: That’s a very diplomatic answer. Is there anything else either of you would like to add?
May: We’re ready to go and work hard for this school because we care about it. We’re also excited to see what the student body wants, and we’re hoping that everyone will participate!
Adam: We would also like to acknowledge all the other candidates again, because everyone did such a great job. The whole election process just displayed a lot of commitment to Fieldston.
