This day will always have a special place in my heart. I wan't to relive it from scratch, and writing about it from scratch comes closest. :)
Elections 2010. It's always been this 'big' thing in school. We'd been talking about it from grade 8, and discussing who would stand for what, seeing all our seniors competing and having the time of their lives. It takes years of reputation to build and stuff, so its always..well...a 'big' thing. :)
So it started out by filling out this form. I don't even know how many tried out, but we were shortlisted to 20 people I think. Then there were the interviews. I was the first interviewee, courtesy of the double As in my name. Day 1 of interviews, they held it in the Chemistry lab, with Ms Bushra & Ms Sarwar. I walked in, and the first thing that was said to me:
"Sooo, Aaisha, why English Secretary, why not any other post?"
"Uh, well, because I think I'm best at i-"
"No, why best at it?"
"No, like, I think I have the best chance for the post."
(Ms Bushra shakes head, Ms Sarwar looks through my form.)
"Do you think you'll be able to, you know, because you've always been so soft-spoken..."
"Well, that doesn't mean I'm not confident."
"Yes I know, but do you think you'll be able to convince the students?"
"Yes, I do."
"Okay..make an announcement."
"Like any announcement?"
"Yes!"
(I was kind of taken aback at this point so I had to think for a while, haha)
"Okay....here goes...'We're holding a writing competition'.."
"Aaisha, I can't even hear you!"
( I was sort of nervous, so I didn't know how that came out."
"Well, you were kind of sitting in front of me so I didn't speak that loudly.." (I said this with a SMILE, okay? :p)
"Yeah..." (I don't think she understood, haha.)
"Okay I'll start over...'We're holding a writing competition, and I want you to submit all your poetries, stories, artwork, whatever, that you think describes you best, and I'll put it together on a blog, for the world to see'.."
"Blog? Yeah thats a good idea!"
(I'm kind of relieved at this point.)
"Ohh and what's the spelling of 'receive'?"
"...umm...r-e-c-i-e-v-e.."
"Wrong, it's r-e-c-E-i.. :) "
"Ohh, sorry."
"Okay, thats enough I think."
"When will you guys let me know?"
"We'll tell you...we haven't told anyone yet."
"Okay, thankyou."
^ Aha as you can see it didn't go that well. :D I was kind of disheartened at this point, and pretty sure I wouldn't clear the interview. Two days after though, they put of the list of the final candidates, and I was SO SO happy when I saw I had cleared the interview haha. xD
It was on Wednesday they put up the final list. Which meant we had Thursday, and Friday for preparations, and then on Monday we would start campaigning. Everyone was really really excited, and so was I. So we brought chart papers and stuff the next day, and asked if we could have the second half after the recess free, to do preparations. Ms Madiha said yes :D So we made strips we would later on use for bracelets for campaigning. Every teacher came into the class and was like "Wowza, team work!", because it was kind of like a cycle, one was cutting the strips, one was writing on them, one was colouring them in :D It was fun!
So the next day everyone was like bring whatever art material so we can make more stuff. So the next day we got even more material, and started making more strips, and started on badges too. Fridays are already half days, and some teachers had this workshop, so we had a whole day free almost :D. Again, it was lots of fun. Except at times we would get disheartened because other people were making better stuff xD Haha lots of drama and fights, though small, an I secretly thought it was exciting. :p
Then on the same day, a friend had called me over for making posters and stuff. Went over, another friend was there, had lots of fun painting, drawing, cutting, etc. haha. On Saturday, some of my friends came over so we could help each other with the campaigning, and posters and badges and stuff. It was lots of fun again :) The day after I had spelling bee, and I had also SOO much homework to do. Went to the spelling bee on Sunday, that was a whole experience on its own, haha. Then I sat down at like 2 o' clock, and got up at 8 o clock, when finallly, finally I was done with my 200 badges, and 50 strips. I don't think I work THIS hard very often, haha. Then I made couple of posters, and then FINALLY started on homework. By the time I went to sleep I felt my hands would fall off any moment.
So next morning would be my speech. I had already prepared a poem, and had decided I was going to recite that. And I did. I don't know how much of an impact it made, but yeah. XD My opponents' speeches were good also. :) One of them had prepared somewhat of a skit, and it was really funny, haha. And secretly I was disappointed because my speech hadn't been that attention grasping. I was pretty sure she was going to win, haha. Anway, so in the break, we did what we'd dreamt to do for so many years :D The whole screaming-your-lungs-out-and-shouting-support thing :D 5 minutes before recess we all gathered on the door with our bottles, and steel spoons and other noise making equipment :p The moment the bell for recess rang, the whole school rang with our shouts and screams as all the 10th graders, the other classes included, made their way to the ground.
I will never ever forget those moments in years to come, the songs, the booing, the whooting, the slogans, it was just so amazing. At the end of the recess we were all completely exhausted and nearly lost our voices, haha. The 7th & 8th period was assigned for campaigning in classes. My badges fell short because all the kids wanted badges to wear :p I felt kind of important hahaha :p But anyway, we introduced ourselves to everyone again and gave out bracelets and badges and stuff, and put posters all over the school. I was asking around who they'd vote for, and they'd shake their head, point their fingers at me, and then ask for a badge. xD But I was kind of convinced I wouldn't win. One 6th grader was so disappointed when she heard I'd given out all my badges, I was so sad I couldn't give any to her :( So I promised her I would bring her a badge the next day just for her. :)
The same day, I came home, made some more badges, did all my homework, and then started on the second speech I had to make. I ended up with a really lame speech, but I was like what the heck, I won't win anyway, so I didn't really care what kind of speech I came up with. :p Turned out, the same opponent who had made the funny speech, had a Waka Waka dance to do for her speech, so obviously everyone liked that. I did my speech, I don't know how it went, because at that point I was completely sure I wasn't going to win so I didn't really care, ahah. We had the same awesomeness in recess, and it was even more awesome if that was even possible. Two of the girls in my class who were shouting slogans completely lost their voices, they couldn't even speak. XD
The next day would be the voting. For some strange reason, the school decided that the voting would be done by computers. :p That didn't turn out too well xD There were lots of glitches, so the voting went on to Thursday.
I wasn't really nervous because I had this strong feeling about losing :p But I was nervous that I would cry, I didn't really want to embarrass myself haha. On Thursday Ms Bushra called all the candidates into the ground to brief them about the results the next day. She told us where to stand and stuff, and to prepare winning speeches if we won, and told us there would be an interactive session.
So on Friday (1-10-2010), when she called us into the ground, everyone was clapping for us, and it felt really good. :) She had an interactive session, in which every candidate said that they thought their opponents would win :p I did too, but I was speaking the truth xD Ms Sarwar started with the results, but she couldn't really leave behind that habit of telling jokes, haha. Everyone was like HA-HA-HA. xD Then she proceeded with the results.
Oh gosh, I will never forget. :) Headgirl from our class. Deputy Head Girl from our class, even though my besties lost. :( Language Secretary from our class. English Secretary. Oh my gosh, I couldn't even believe it when they announced my name. I couldn't hear by how many votes I had won, because my class and all the other voters were causing an absolute uproar. xD So I went to the stage, got my maroon Council GOWN (EEEE) in front of the whole school and stood with the winners. :D Turns our House Captain was also from our class, so that made FIVE GOWNS from our class. Our class was going crazy with excitement. We had this slogan, "X C KA NAARA HA, YE COUNCIL HAMARA HA." and it came truee. Gosh. Then we took our Oaths. It was really funny, they asked us to raise our right hand for the oath, and nobody could figure out which was their right. xD Then I made my winning speech :D I didn't know what to say, so I thanked God, I thanked my class, I thanked my best friends ( and pointed to them, and then they started crying haha aww :( ) and I thanked my voters and supporters and promised them I won't let them down.
Coming back off stage, I hugged my opponents, The Headgirl, the deputy head, all the elected council & all the other candidates. I hugged my best friends, who hadn't won. :( I was really sad they didn't win after all their hard work. There was lots of crying, and lots of hugging.
We were asked to stay back in the ground, we had our picture taken with the Principal, and told us that our first meeting would be on Friday. The Council went upstairs to even more hugs :D From EVERYONE. I got a kiss from a teacher too hahaha xD It was awesome. Then we had this pizza party planned for recess, but the Principal came and asked us why we were shouting, and since nobody replied, she took away our pizza, and said "The Peons can have a party today." It was hilariously annoying. :D
So in the break we went downstairs, and asked for our Pizza back. xD Hahaha, after some convincing, she gave it back to us, and we had alot of fun eating it. :D The whole day I felt really confident wearing my Gown. I don't know why, but it gave me a surge of confidence. :) My friends said it looked part of my personality ahahah xD
And so the awesomeness ended, but these memories will last a lifetime. I'm really looking forward to spending a year being part of the School Council. :)