With the 2025-26 school year underway, White Plains High School welcomes a new group of class officers. On Wednesday, Oct. 8, 14 freshmen were elected by the Class of 2029 to represent their peers throughout high school. They will be responsible for fundraising, organization and publicity events for the Class of 2029.
Grace Karam and Amara Older were elected co-presidents; the vice presidents are Maya Amir and Teresa Damato; Anneliese Alonso and Eleanor Ingram will serve as secretaries; Pippa White and Jimmy Solis are the treasurers; Oliver Chow and Bruno Mendez are the publicists; the G.O. representatives are Emily Mercado, Andy Jimenez and Giovanna Sartorato; and Veeda Abedi is the special events coordinator.
As presidents, Karam and Older will oversee weekly meetings with the committee, plan and attend fundraising events, and meet with administrators when necessary. Karam, who served as class president last year as well, said she loved the role and is excited to lead her class again in high school.
“It would be awesome if we could make school an environment people enjoy coming to,” she said.
Older already has ideas for improvement. “I wanted to become president because I felt it would be good for the school,” she said, explaining that as president, she wants to change fundraising methods to raise more money so the class has greater opportunities.
The vice presidents help oversee committee members, report problems to the presidents, attend events and brainstorm class activities. Amir said she wanted to become vice president “to have a leadership position in the school to make change.” More specifically, she hopes to increase the number of events where students can learn new things.
Similarly, Damato ran for the position in hopes of getting more involved in school activities and improving her leadership. “The Class of 2029 can expect student government to work hard to make high school a great experience,” she said.
Secretaries Alonso and Ingram will be responsible for taking notes at meetings, handling records and performing administrative tasks. Ingram emphasized the importance of accurate records and said she “would like to reliably inform the Class of 2029 of what their student government is doing.”
The two treasurers, White and Solis, will have major responsibilities: managing the Class of 2029’s funds. This includes handling money raised at fundraisers, organizing financial documents and presenting a financial report to the committee during every meeting.
The publicists are expected to inform the class of upcoming events by creating posters, managing social media accounts and working with Student Activities. Chow, whose primary role is to update social media pages, said, “I wanted to be the publicist because I like sharing news and keeping everyone informed about what’s going on.”
Mendez will create flyers, while Abedi will be responsible for coordinating class events.
G.O. representatives Mercado, Jimenez and Sartorato will communicate with the Student Government Organization. They must attend S.G.O. meetings, report on S.G.O. events to Class of 2029 officers, and keep S.G.O. officers informed about Class of 2029 plans.
Sartorato, who has two years of experience as a G.O. representative, said, “I wanted to be G.O. representative because I want to represent my class.” Mercado said she wanted the role to “participate in school activities and fundraisers” and “meet new friends and teachers.” She mentioned her plan to help fellow officers organize fundraisers and make changes.
As these ninth graders take on the challenge of representing their class, they will no doubt learn valuable communication, organization and leadership skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. The Orange wishes the newest class officers luck as they begin their journey.
