Student Body elections are coming up this Friday (12 March 2021). This year there are five positions open; President, Vice President, Publicist, Activities Coordinator, and Service coordinator. The Riverhawk Review spoke with a few of the candidates to bring their ideas to you.

Michael Gill- Activities Coordinator
Michael Gill wants to increase school spirit at Canyon Ridge and create a culture where students enjoy coming to school. He believes that the way to do this is to create more involvement within the student body and to highlight diversity within our school. Gill would like to hold more pep rallies and student competitions. He believes he is qualified for this position because he’s been in student council for five years and has served in this position at other student councils.

Caleb Lewis- Activities Coordinator
Caleb Lewis would like to see Canyon Ridge High School come together as a community. He has participated in school activities like the service bowl and wants to increase participation in sports that haven’t had broad student involvement like girl’s basketball. Lewis believes that the way to do this is through better communication with the student body.

Savannah Slagel- Activities Coordinator
Savannah Slagel currently feels like our school is in groups and instead wants to work to make our student body feel like a family. To do this, she wants to increase participation in unrecognized events like the arts. Slagel wants redemption next year (her senior year) from many activities getting shut down due to Covid- 19. Instead, next year she wants to work with our school administration to work with the remaining health guidelines so we can continue to have events. Slagel believes she is qualified for this position because she has participated in multiple student sections and activities this year. Her main goal for next year is to show up to build school culture.

Alex Helms- Activities Coordinator
Alex Helm’s main goal for next year is to get back to a new sense of normal. His ideas include having in person assemblies, adding new student section cheers, and creating incentives to get more students to participate in activities. He has experience being the sophomore class activities coordinator and has helped plan miracle minutes, international week, and homecoming.

Camryn Humble- Publicist
Camryn Humble is already the student body publicist and enjoys her current position because it gives her a creative outlet. Since she became a publicist, post interactions on school social media sites have gone up over 200%. She has also worked on posting about other school communities to highlight other school organizations. Next year, she wants to work on posting more student life photos and create a subscription where students without social media can opt into texting alerts to stay up to date. As a publicist, Humble believes that she brings a unique perspective to the public face of Canyon Ridge because she is an activist for mental health and equal rights which help her present information in acceptable ways.

Emma Dickenson- Publicist

Currently, Emma Dickenson is the Junior Class publicist but next year she wants to work on showcasing more of the student body. This would include posting more about student life. But she also wants to get more information out to our community through local radio stations to boost our community’s support for our school. Mostly though she just wants to hit next year with a bang to make it the best it can be.

Myah Shoup- Service Coordinator
Myah Shoup is running for service coordinator to bring kindness and fun to Canyon Ridge activities. She wants to build the CRHS community up and work with our community outside of our school to build connections together. Shoup has been in student council before and stresses that she really wants to be involved in the community.

Rylee Thomson- Service Coordinator
Rylee Thomson recognizes that many people in our community have struggled during our current pandemic. This spurred her idea to start the Forget Me Nots club which has hosted a blanket drive, delivered bags of candy for Halloween to the senior center, and is going to hold a book drive for the jail. By being part of student council, Thomson wants to combine the efforts of school clubs with student government in order to reach more people. One of the main ideas she wants to implement is having a targeted based service project each month of the school year to keep community service front and center at CRHS.

Matt Shively- Vice President
Although Matt Shively has not been in student government before, he brings many new ideas to the table that he wants to implement next year. These include having autism awareness week and recycling programs. Shively also wants to set up publicizing means that don’t include social interactions as he knows many people are uncomfortable communicating this way. His main goal for next year though is to create a safe environment for all students and will strive to seek first to understand then to be understood.

Coltin Vinson- Vice President
Coltin Vinson wants to work on changing the dynamic of what student council is by making more voices heard throughout the school. This would be implemented by having easier communication with student body officers and working closely with the diversity and inclusion club. The position of Vice President also holds the responsibility of treasurer and Vinson is comfortable with taking financial responsibility during fundraisers and is willing to work with other positions for the best outcomes. Vinson also acknowledges that being Vice President will come with difficult and challenging times but he is willing to put in the work and knows that one of the solutions to this is getting out of his comfort zone.

Georgia Garnsey- Vice President
Georgia Garnsey has seen the opportunity the past year to redeem the student body. This would include having more funding opportunities and events that have multiple ways to pay instead of just cash. Garnsey also believes that she has past experiences that will help her be a successful leader that includes her mission trip to Thailand which taught her to value diversity and inclusiveness.