A need to lead: Students get creative with school elections

COLUMBIA — Michael Corey-Yares went for the funny bone and the stomach in his campaign for student government president at Hickman High School.

He gave away Fazoli's bread sticks and several hundred homemade chocolate chip cookies and talked with absolutely everyone in the hallway.

At Rock Bridge High School, where candidates can't give away anything and are limited to how many and how big their posters can be, Heather Eaton relied on being a self-proclaimed student council kid. In her speech to the school, she asked earnestly and politely that classmates allow her to serve another year.

Missourian reporters Joshua Nichol-Caddy and Kaity Kerwin spent a couple weeks hanging out at both high schools this past month during elections for next year's student government. They found students who were into the campaigns and happy to support their candidate.

They also found students who stuck their earbuds into their ears as soon as the candidates started talking.

At Hickman, they followed Corey-Yares and DeNay Tapp in their campaigns for student government president. Across town at Rock Bridge, they followed Eaton and Ismam Islam as they ran for student council president.

Although hundreds of students graduate this weekend, these students already have their eyes to the fall.