“A leader is sweet. They are compassionate, and really care about everyone around them,” said Vice President senior Jenny Hosler as she dumps a full bag of sugar onto ASB President senior Maryse Suppiger. “A leader has juicy ideas. They are untraditional, but always amazing and tasteful,” Hosler adds, pouring a carton of orange
juice over Suppiger’s head. Murmurs and a gasp here and there escape from the growing crowd. The passing students stop to see what could possibly be happening as Hosler continues. “Finally a leader sticks to a plan. They can perfectly execute any event because they are organized, dedicated, and driven,” she said, wrapping Suppiger from head to toe in duct tape. The speech ends and the crowd of students erupts into laughter as they applaud.

After winning last year’s elections, Suppiger and Hosler start the year with a mindset to revamp Piedmont High School’s traditions in the hopes of increasing school enthusiasm and participation.

Together, Suppiger and Hosler want to lead the class to design events, like the approaching Homecoming dance and rally, in a way that encourages a new level of spirit. Suppiger said that she thinks ASB has a good quantity of events, but she wants to put on more quality events.

“I think a good example of that was Friday Fest, it was kind of a spin off of welcome back week,” Suppiger said.

Suppiger and Hosler have been good friends for awhile which makes leading together smooth and easy.

“There’s a lot of communication between the two of us and with Ms. Foster,” Hosler said.

Because they often have the same thoughts, conveying ideas to the class is never complicated.

“We’re together 24 hours a day, practically, so it just kind of gets worked into our everyday lives,” Suppiger said. “When I come up with an idea I turn to Jenny, and Jenny’s standing right there.”

Junior class Vice President Natalie Stollman said that Maryse and Jenny work really well together because they are on the same page about what the class wants and they finish each other’s sentences.

“Maryse and Jenny are really intent on getting things done, but they are also all about us having a good time and making sure the student body enjoys everything to the fullest,” Stollman said.

With their natural cohesion, Suppiger and Hosler want the student body to understand how ASB really works. Hosler said that before the school year started she felt as though many people viewed ASB as merely a group of people that just goof around all day.

“I think after Friday Fest they have a new view on what we do and what we’re trying to accomplish,” Hosler said.

Freshman ASB Representative Max Roitblat agrees that Friday Fest was a success.

“We had all the countdown signs building suspense to it, I think a lot of people really enjoyed the big turnout at the end of the week,” Roitblat said.

ASB leadership faculty advisor Mercedes Foster said that she wanted to see students excited about an event because it provides a chance to spend time with friends in a unique environment, that will be gone forever once high school is over.

“So why not have a high school dance and just dig it because it’s a high school dance,” Foster said.

Suppiger and Hosler also want everyone to realize that there is a whole student government and politics portion to ASB.

“I hope that people see ASB as more than just party planning,” said Suppiger. “We want people to see the student government element and feel like what they think and what they want to say is directly going to be influenced in what we do.”

Roitblat said ASB puts on these events for everyone because they want people to feel like they are a part of the whole student body.

From the get go Foster told the ASB students she wants everything they do as a leadership class to include everyone in the school community.

“It’s not our job to try to break people into small groups,” Foster said, “it is our job to unify people, and to celebrate the fact that we’re all here together and we may be different but we all deserve to be recognized.”

As of this year, Foster has returned to the ASB leadership faculty advisor position after taking a three year hiatus. Foster, who is more than happy to be back, said she loves hearing and learning through ASB how the school runs outside of classroom environments.

“The leadership students tend to provide insight to what is really going on socioculturally, and it informs my teaching practice in English,” Foster said.

Over the past three years, Foster has greatly missed her involvement in ASB.

“I didn’t have the pulse of the school, so it’s really nice to get that back,” Foster said.

Foster has returned with many new ideas and objectives for this year. She wants to promote school spirit so that students are truly proud to be a part of this school community. Additionally, Foster wants the ASB class to think about how they can fulfill their obligations while also encouraging participation and enthusiasm.

Foster said in terms of events, bigger and better don’t matter, meaningful matters.

“I know the students and they all want to create a meaningful experience for the student body,” Foster said.