Sean Howard ’16 delivers his speech in front freshmen, his fellow sophomores, and juniors. For the first time ever, a rising junior has a significant chance at earning the top spot. With a chance to win over the other classes in the election and introduce fresh ideas into the club, Howard and the Medical Society as a whole face an interesting and potentially far-reaching decision.
This past monday, May 5, 2014, Medical Society held elections for President, Vice President, and two Communications Officers. Both current sophomores and current juniors were allowed to run in the elections, and several of these students ran in multiple categories to set up nets to fall back on.
The winners included, Â Sean Howard ’16 for President and William Feist ’15 for Vice President, along with Benito Buksh ’15 and Michael Lanham ’15 for Communications Officers.
After all the votes were counted by Ms. Stefanie Page, Mrs. Jan Jones, and Mr. Max von Schlehenried ’06, the results were released. Marking a break from tradition, Howard, a sophomore, won the election for president. The vice president position went to Feist, and finally, two students, Lanham and Buksh, were elected as communications officers.
Howard is not only a current sophomore, but also a member of the first generation to receive iPads as Freshman. His term as president next year could prove revolutionary in terms of implementing technology since the use of an iPad is inseparable from his Jesuit experience in the classroom.
Howard joined Medical Society during his freshman year and participated in activities such as the freshman cat dissection and field trips. In his speech, Howard stated that he will lead Medical Society by “creating more opportunity for students…to find their medical passion like [he] did.” He ended his strong speech by asking the club members to “help [him] help [them]” in bringing about the best year for Medical Society yet.
Feist, the vice president for next year, will bring both laboratory and leadership experience to the position. In his speech, Feist stated that “over this past summer, [he] worked in a professional lab at the University of Texas at Dallas. The professor, who’s now moving from UTD to SMU to be the chairman of Biology, has invited me to follow him there.” Feist is also the vice president of Interact, a junior leadership organization. He will use both his laboratory experience and leadership experience to help the president lead the club.
Buksh and Lanham understand the difficulty of being successful communications officers. Buksh started his speech by explaining the challenges of the position and said, “managing a 105 people is a really, really hard task.” He emphasized this by stating that many of the students “don’t even have a cell phone.” He will use social media to communicate with members on their iPads. Lanham offers another important point by stating that he wants to “to get the Medical Society into the Jesuit culture a little bit more.” Both Lanham and Buksh will work together to increase membership and manage the organization.
If there’s one trend for clubs next year, it’s progress. Almost every organization here at Jesuit has experienced a drastic increase in participation this year, and this will increase next year. Each officer in Medical Society will offer unique ideas and skills that they can use to improve the club next year. Next year will arrive with a bang, so for now, sit back, take time to recognize these committed students, and wait patiently for the incredibly experiences of next year.
