New co-chairs elected in first gender-neutral election

JUNIORS RACHEL AIDEYAN AND ELIJAH EMERY were recently elected as co-chairs for the 2018-2019 school year. This year’s election was the first gender-neutral election, due to a proposal passed earlier this year in Executive Committee. The change called for one election instead of two seperate ones. Aideyan and Emery, the new co-chairs, have high hopes for next year, looking to make positive changes at Masters.

New co-chairs elected in first gender-neutral election

Michael FitzgeraldEditor-in-Chief

Henry Williams

Editor-in-Chief

This year’s co-chair election was the first of its kind, as candidates were not separated by gender due to a recently-passed proposal in Executive Committee. Each candidate gave their speech during the same Morning Meeting, and voters selected their top two candidates on the ballot.

Despite the change, the final outcome still resulted in one male and one female winner: juniors Rachel Aideyan and Elijah Emery.

Though they don’t know each other well, the two participate in some of the same activities, with both having been heavily involved in foil fencing and are participating

in the TEDx program.

To Aideyan, Masters has been a place of self-discovery and confidence-building. “I love how Masters really brought out things in me I never really knew,” Aideyan said. “At my old school, there weren’t as many opportunities to succeed. Before Masters, I never would’ve imagined being brave enough to go up there and run for co-chair.”

Aideyan points to one experience in particular in defining her experience. “Last year I was a new sophomore, and the proctors around me noticed that I felt lonely at the start of the year,” Aideyan said. “They told me, ‘There is something in you that is very special. This is a sisterhood where we will always be there for you. You’re here for a reason, Masters saw something in you and they value you as a person,’ and that really made me feel like my voice is valued and worthy of being heard.”

The new co-chair is deeply involved

in activities. She is co-president of Onyx, a diversity ambassador, and has attended both the Student Diversity Leadership Conference and the yearly Jonestown trip. Next year, she will also serve as a Ford Dorm proctor.

Most of all, Aideyan wants to effect positive change at Masters. “I’ve been a boarder for two years now, and I do feel like a lot of boarders feel the school’s care and money isn’t coming to them,” Aideyan said. She wants to bring more transparency to the school’s longterm planning, especially with respect to the residential community. “They should at least let us know what’s going on,” she said.

Another area where Aideyan wants to make a difference is the freshman and sophomore world history curriculum. At a meeting with diversity ambassadors and faculty, she saw that a concern of many students was the lack of geographic and cultural diversity in

the history courses.

“So far, I’ve met with Mr. Young about how to make sure different perspectives make it into the classroom,” Aideyan said. She also said she hopes to see progress on that front next year.

Emery has high hopes for his year as co-chair, with his primary goal being on pushing back the start time of school.

Emery cites studies that show a correlation between later school starting times with GPA increases, as well as a decrease in driving accidents, sports injuries and depression rates, as well as a decrease in cigarette, drug and alcohol usage.

On campus, Emery is known for his contributions in various student groups such as the spoken word poetry group Outspoken, the Debate Team, Model United Nations, History Bowl, Tower and ultimate frisbee.

“I want people to know that I don’t take myself too seriously,

and I’m approachable. My speech had a few jokes in it, but hopefully people found it serious and policyfocused. I want people to know I’m approachable, and that anyone can come to me to talk things out,” Emery noted.

Emery added that as of the middle of his sophomore year he knew he would be running for co-chair, and was additionally inspired by former co-chair Timothy Kaplowitz.

Emery said, “He was such a cool guy, and being a small freshman who watched him stutter on stage, make up fake ‘this day in histories’ and bring a friendly face to the start of every week made me want to do the same thing.”

Elijah Emery, News Editor for Tower, recused himself from editorial involvement on the news section for this issue.