Introducing your 2021-2022 Fieldston Student Government Co-Presidents: Lena Habtu (V) and Eli Satlof (V)! When Lena and Eli heard the exciting news that they had won the election, they were overjoyed and in shock. Both Eli and Lena are incredibly grateful and excited to lead the Upper School student government. They had a lot of fun planning their campaign and plan on continuing to have loads of fun as they serve as the co-presidents.
Lena and Eli made the informal decision to run for FSG Co-Presidents during their sophomore year at Fieldston (2019-2020). During this year, Lena and Eli served as their grade’s two representatives in the Fieldston Student Government. The pair saw how well they worked together when they were their grade’s senators as they developed a good working relationship. Their natural way of collaborating with one another was what initially gave them the idea to run for the co-presidency. Eli and Lena also both thought that running for FSG Co-Presidents would be a good way to get more connected with the school, as their last year at Fieldston is rapidly approaching. Additionally, they were constantly thinking about the resources that they would have wanted throughout their first three years of high school and decided that serving as the FSG Co-Presidents would be the best way to ensure that these resources were implemented during their senior year. It was an extra bonus that Lena and Eli live very close to each other, so they were able to film campaign videos at a park near both of their homes. Lena formally asked Eli to run with her in March of this year, and since then they have thoroughly enjoyed their time together.
Eli and Lena started brainstorming specific campaign ideas and strategies in March and began releasing various forms of campaign media in April. The free time they had over Spring Break was essential for them when they were drafting the many well-worded emails we all received. While they were campaigning, their main tenet was to get the campaigning work done before the school-enforced deadlines. Once it became time to vote, Eli and Lena had accumulated a 14-page document full of ideas to better the Fieldston community. Their final speech video was filmed over the course of two days and diligently edited for much longer. Overall, Lena and Eli agree that the campaigning process was both extremely fun and challenging. The part of their campaigning experience that they enjoyed most was getting to know each other and spending time together. On the other hand, the most challenging aspect was coming up with ideas that got people engaged. Lena and Eli also tried to get their plans approved in advance so that they didn’t make any baseless claims in their emails. The pair put a lot of effort into their ideas and how they presented them, which definitely ended up being a lot of work. Despite the workload, Eli and Lena enjoyed campaigning so much that they would have still been very pleased with their experience even if they had lost the election.
Lena and Eli’s number one priority for their co-presidency is to bring people together again. They want to do this by “capitalizing on boosting happiness and cultivating community,” the pair said. Their community restoration work will include drafting assembly proposals, working to figure out if Pep Rally can be held on the quad and utilizing outdoor spaces for many different community gatherings. They also want to focus on working with administrators to discuss the Students of Color Matter (SOCM) goals. This is especially important to them because Lena is already a leader of this student-led initiative and has previously conversed with administrators at Fieldston. Additionally, Eli and Lena plan to make various resources more accessible. These resources include the learning center, office hours, pre-finals round tables and mental health support systems. “Fieldston has a lot of great support systems but they aren’t widely known,” Lena said when asked about increasing resource accessibility. Both Lena and Eli believe that making these spaces more available will help fulfill their long-term goal of helping younger students by providing them with the systems that would have helped them when they were their age. Also, implementing Sal’s punch cards is one of these co-presidents’ smaller goals. It is important to note that as Eli and Lena create plans for next year, they are keeping the COVID-19 safety procedures in mind because they don’t want to promise things that they don’t know are safe.
The very first thing that Eli and Lena want to accomplish is creating their garden. In fact, they have already begun working on it! Lena and Eli want to get a headstart on gardening with the help of the Middle School Environmental Club during the spring and summer. Their garden idea was inspired by the gardening work that Lena has done with the City Semester program. She believes that gardening is “cathartic for [her] mental and physical well-being.” Lena and Eli plan to make the garden a recreational space. They hope that the garden will reduce students’ anxiety as they interact with nature. Howard Waldman, the Green Dean of the school, has been in communication with Eli and Lena and they collectively decided to use the gardening plots outside of the middle school (close to the lower field) for their garden project.
The current FSG Co-Presidents, Nina Kronengold (VI) and Calder Stokes (VI), have been very helpful as Lena and Eli step into their new roles in the Upper School. Eli and Lena were able to look up to Calder and Nina and were also able to obtain helpful advice from them. The most helpful piece of advice they received was to remember to cherish the time they have as co-presidents because it goes by fast. By the end of their co-presidency, Lena and Eli hope to create programs that don’t only affect their grade, but instead have a long-lasting impact on the Fieldstom community for the years to come.
The Upper School would like to say one big congratulations to Eli and Lena! The Fieldston community cannot wait to see what they do for the Upper School throughout the upcoming academic year.
