This year’s presidential election, more than any other, was stressful for everyone, both the candidates and the voters. The COVID-19 pandemic made it close to impossible for the enthusiastic candidates to plan any fun activities that meet the necessary recommendations, so they had to resort to plans that would not endanger the health and safety of the GZAAT freshmen class. Four candidates presented their speeches in the zoom meeting attended by all the freshman students. Zoom is a platform all GZAAT students are fairly close with, so there was not a problem of disorientation. The process went fairly smoothly, with close to no connection problems. The Q&A part stretched, due to some voters disagreeing with what the candidates proposed. Other than that, the speeches were enjoyable and informative as to what we should expect from each of the candidates. They all promised to fulfill their positions to the best of their capabilities, and listen to all of the worries and concerns of the freshmen class. All of the candidates were interviewed privately. To the question “why did you decide to run for freshmen president?”, their answers varied. Datuna Dolidze and Sandro Japaridze said they wanted to better this troubling time by making this year less stressful and fun by being a passionate and positive leader for the class. Nino Loladze said she was nominated by classmates. Kato Dadiani, a candidate who is now the president, said that she had thought about running for president at least once during her time in high school and decided why not this year? During the pandemic, there aren’t a lot of things the candidates could offer, but they’re still, of course, are some things that can be executed. A smart idea Datuna Dolidze offered, now the freshmen vice president, was to host zoom meetings where students could say what they needed, ask their peers for help in homework, and more. This is doable during the pandemic, and also brings the students closer as they haven’t been able to interact as much. The winners, Kato and Datuna, were asked whether they would collaborate with those who didn’t win to make their promises come true. They both answered that as they promised, they would listen to every single person and collaborate with them to make the school life better.
It is hard to say what people are looking for in the candidates. When asked what was the most important thing they were looking for in a candidate, one of the interviewed voters, Mariam, answered they needed “an original person who comes up with new clever ideas for the 9th grade, who listens to the students' opinions about certain things and tries to make a friendly environment for them.” While others suggested the importance of sports activities and sports involvement. One of them said that the most important aspect to look for in a potential president is for them not to say empty words, especially now that the options are restricted. When asked whether there was an instance where they were planning on voting for someone, but the speech and Q&A made them change their mind, everyone had a unanimous opinion, that they had already decided who they were going to vote for beforehand and the speeches didn’t have a huge impact on their decision. The final vote showed that the freshmen class now has Kato Dadiani as their president and Datuna Dolidze as vice president. Congratulations to the winners, there is no doubt that the GZAAT class of 2024 has two amazing students in charge.
Edited by: Liza Jariashvili
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