Story by Christina Burke
Staff Writer

Video by Courtney Echerd
KCBY Staff Member

Although class officer elections seem to pass by unnoticed for the first three years of high school, senior year is the time to make it count, and that is exactly what current junior Natalie Oden plans to do next year as the senior class of 2013’s newly elected president.

“Going into this competition, I was really unsure because in the past years, everyone has kind of gotten in automatically because only one person has run,” Oden said. “This year we had three people running, and both Daniel Lian and Nikki Dabney are excellent candidates. It was just a really tough competition.”

Between planning big events such as prom and Project Graduation, taking on the role of senior class president is challenging. Senior and friend of Oden, Eilzabeth Pittman, knew Oden would be a good match for senior class president and persuaded her to run. Serving as a leading supporter of Oden’s campaign, Pittman was behind her friend throughout the election process.

“Natalie was very unsure of whether or not she should run, and I thought that with her leadership skills and her great resume, she would make an awesome senior class president,” Pittman said. “I kind of convinced her a little bit. It was just a really cool thing for her to experience and go through and to see her excel in.”

During the period of time leading up to the election, Oden and Pittman prepared plenty of material to advertise Oden’s campaign. The abundance of posters, social media posts and stickers were a key factor in Oden’s taking of the election, along with the genuine message conveyed by Oden that she really cares for her classmates and CHS.

“As for campaigning, I made sure I made a lot of stickers. I made about 450 stickers, and just started passing them out and just started really talking to people,” Oden said. “There was also a lot of stuff going through social networking sights such as Facebook and Twitter. I made a lot of statuses just about voting for me and the kinds of things I could do for our school, as well as my friends, they all made [Facebook] statuses too, and that helped a lot.”

Word spread rapidly throughout the students among CHS through various ways, promoting Oden for senior class president. Brightly colored stickers that could be seen on Oden’s supporters all around the halls became a trademark of her campaign. This unique idea captured the attention of many potential voters.

“I helped her make her posters, pass out stickers, post on social media and help her through every step of her campaign so that she could have the best campaigning experience possible,” Pittman said.

By Election Day, the vast majority of the junior class knew of Oden’s campaign and her intentions to make their senior year the highlight of their high school career. Prior to Election Day, Oden made the best of her campaigning opportunities by reaching out to various students in her grade, meeting new faces along the way, and beginning to ask their input for Prom and budget spending. Oden won over many of her peers by expressing her concern and dedication to the candidacy.

“I voted for Natalie in the election because she is always nice to everyone and seems to be very dedicated to her work. I saw all of the stickers in the hallways, and I could tell that she really wanted this,” junior Ally Rood said. “I know that Natalie will put time and effort into being a great senior class president.”

Another groundbreaking factor in the success of her campaign was the amount of support gained through social networking sights. It seemed as if her campaign’s followers would do everything in their power to promote her success.

“Come Election Day, I was really nervous because no one really knew who would come out on top. I really had to go around and start taking to people to get those last minute votes,” Oden said. “It is easy to make a lot of promises when you are trying to get votes, but come senior year, I really plan to do my best to make this senior year the best that out class has ever had.”

Oden’s passionate efforts paid off when it was announced that she had indeed won the election for the senior class president of 2013. Overwhelmed with the result, she was congratulated in abundance for this accomplishment by her peers who can say confidently that she will make their senior year a great one.

“When they announced who won, I was really nervous at first, but as soon as they announced it, I was so excited and everyone was excited for me. It really meant a lot, and I appreciated everyone’s support,” Oden said.