Hi Fieldston! We’re Cristina Ellis and Kiran Gangadharan, and we are running to be your next FSG co-presidents!
Before we tell you about our platform, let us first introduce ourselves. I, Cristina, have been here since I was in kindergarten. Over the past twelve years, I have had many meaningful and life-changing experiences while at this school. Now that I am entering my senior year, I want to give back to the community that has given me so much by leading the school as the next FSG co-president. My long tenure at this school has given me many ideas for how we can change and improve our already great school!
I, Kiran, haven’t been here nearly as long. I arrived in the ninth grade, but in these three years, this school and all those who attend it have shown me nothing but good vibes and great times. That’s why Cristina and I are pledging to give back to this school by giving every cabinet member a fair shake, making intensives more approachable with the science center, and so many other great additions to this already wonderful school. I hope you give us the privilege of your vote!
Now that you know a bit about us, let us tell you about our platform. We hope that these changes will make our school a better place for everybody!
- Creating a Science Center: Science classes at Fieldston are notoriously difficult. Unlike other subjects, such as math, history, and English, there is no center for students to visit when they need help with their classes. When we are elected, we will fill this gap by creating a science center staffed by teachers as well as accomplished student volunteers who can aid their fellow students.
- Creating a liaison to the college office for 9th + 10th graders: Most underclassmen have many questions about the college admissions process, but don’t have any way to contact the college office for answers. Our administration will create a liaison to the college office, which will gather underclassmen’s questions once per quarter before sending them to the college office for their answers. We would also create a college assembly for underclassmen, where the college office would provide a comprehensive overview of the college admissions process.
- Increase representation for underclassmen in the cabinet: The cabinet is traditionally filled by upperclassmen (actually mostly seniors), which does not allow underclassmen to have a voice in FSG matters. When we are elected, we will create new secretaryships for underclassmen.
- Blind review of all cabinet candidates: We want our FSG cabinet to be filled with people who have new and exciting ideas for the leadership of our school, not just our best friends. When we review cabinet applications, we will have all the names of people removed, so we are judging you solely on your merits, not who you are, giving everyone a fair chance.
- Widening cafeteria offerings: We, like the rest of the school, were very excited by the recent renovations in the cafeteria. That said, we do have a couple of ideas for small changes to provide even more meal options for students. As co-presidents, we will ask the school to stock hot chocolate and hot apple cider packets so that students who are less than enthused by tea and coffee can have a hot drink offering. We would also bring back the toaster full-time, so students can once again make toasted bagels with cream cheese during lunch.
- Standardized Testing Information Sessions with the College Office: While the spring of junior year is the official start of the college process, many students begin to prep for standardized testing earlier than that. As co-presidents, we will create information sessions for students at the end of their sophomore year or the beginning of their junior year, which will inform them about this high-stress yet important process.
- 24/7 Suggestion Box: As FSG co-presidents, we’ll want to hear your opinions and ideas for what changes we should make at school. We will do this by creating an anonymous online Google form where people can give us their feedback. We will also put a physical box in the 200s building, where people can leave their suggestions should they desire to.
- STEM Field Trips: Most of the field trips at Fieldston are related to humanities, ethics, or foreign language classes. As co-presidents, we will make sure that there are more STEM-related trips so students can see some of the concepts they learn about in action.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our platform. We hope you are as excited by our ideas as we are! If you have any questions and/or more ideas, feel free to reach out to us at 26cgellis@ecfs.org and 26kdgangadharan@ecfs.org. We guarantee that you will receive a response from us within 24 hours!
