Sunday, November 25, 2018

2018 Elections

11/25/18

Hey its Emily, currently sitting in the Band room, and updating this because Rendy posted on Facebook to do that. Look through the past blog posts from the last ~10 years to get a feel of what happens at Elections! Below is the current slate for our 2018 Elections.  Tomorrow, November 26th, come to the Cheeseman promptly at 6pm (if you have Good Standing) to vote and witness this glorious affair! Reminder that absentee ballots are due by 5pm tomorrow by emailing Greer, musicman@upenn.edu.

Happy Sunday!

2018 Election Slate
President
-Jacob Linfesty (C'21)
Vice President
-Aaron Mittleman (C'20)
Treasurer
-Chad Vigil (C'20)
-Nicolas Corona (W'21)
Secretary 
-Adam Rose (C'22)

Monday November 26, 2018-ALMOST TIME FOR ELECTIONS 6:02pm

The room is filling up. Rendy and Urf are giving out ballots and checking people in. The current Executive Board (sans Aaron) will be wearing decorative onesies during elections, get pumped.

The ballots for today are all of the majors of the current Executive Board: computer science for Urf, Biochemistry for Rendy, Economics for Aaron, and...Nursing, Chemistry, Biochemstry (only on the ballot once), Nutrition and Anthropology for Emily....Bandos are currently guessing which of the majors were Emily's. Owen incorrectly guesses 4, but that's okay. We will forgive him.

6:07pm We are starting. Greer denies doing magic because 'this is too serious'.

Okay we are starting with the President. So far the only announced candidate is Jacob. Emily briefly, very briefly says what she does. The President is responsible for running all Board and Council meetings and is the 'face of the Penn Band'.

Greer asks for floor nominations for President. No one is nominated.

Jacob gets to speak!

Jacobs speech:
Since he's not running against anyone right now, he wants to explain his vision for the Band. He wants a stronger Council and a more accessible Board. He wants to have more productive meetings and wants to invite Council members into Board meetings so that they can learn what Board does and Board can learn what Council does. He wants Council members to have more initiative and drive to do what they are supposed to. He also wants to make Council slightly smaller and that people need to take responsibility for their positions and roles. Most importantly, Board needs to be accessible, Emily had office hours where you could talk about Band or one of her 5 majors. Jacob wants ALL Board members to have office hours to increase accessibility. He also wants increased communication with 'hard' decisions. For example, communicating the Cornell roadtrip was slightly lost during football season. Overall, he thinks that Board needs to be driven.

End speech-Great job Jacob!

Greer asks for any questions.

Cathy: How do you plan to cut down on Council size? Cutting positions or single section leaders?
Jacob: It depends, Bernie did a great job with EM and for the sections it depends.

Candace: Woah, what about Low Brass, I think we need 2?
Jacob: Yes definitely, it will depend on the section.

Miriam: What is your management style?
Jacob: I'm not extremely hands-on. With Board, its important to delegate but there is a difference between being too specific. With Council, Board always has to be accessible but they should see projects out to the end.

Ming: What are you other commitments?
Jacob: I am on the Board of Mock Trial and he just finished with it! He's also a tour guide. "I'm ready to go for Band"

Melannie: You're currently a sophomore, how do you plan to work with upperclassmen Council members?
Jacob: He plans to effectively communicate expectations regardless

Richard: How do you handle stress?
Jacob: When he gets fustrated with Mock Trial, he likes to come home to his roommates and talk to them about it. School work he tends to stay on top of it! Go him! He does have to stay in the library late.

Melannie-it's a two part question:
Part I: Board sometimes has to talk about things that you can't talk with other Band members, how do you plan to deal with that?
Part II: You live with three other bandos, how do you plan on separating that?
Jacob: Gave Urf/Aaron as an example and Emily/Zabryna-they separate Board from home life.

6:19pm Okay Greer says no more questions!

Jacob Linfesty is acclaimed as your 2019 Penn Band President! Congrats!

6:19pm Its time for VP

Greer: Aaron what did you do?
Aaron: I wrote shows and helped other Board members.

Greer asks for floor nominations. He first misses Jacob's hand, Jacob nominates Josh Gardos. Josh accepts!

6:20pm Aaron gives his speech!

He thinks that creativity is important, but instead of explaining it, he has a poem for us! He put his name into a speech. All I got was "N" stands for new which I'm not.

His 30 second speech is over!

Josh is now speaking!

The Penn Band has been the best part of his Penn career thus far (he's a freshmen). Josh has been to showwriting and he loves the concept of having shows written and then hearing them while he runs on the field. He ends with a cute joke that he is shorter, younger and has a shorter beard.

That's all.

Emily: Aaron, why aren't you running for President? Josh, why did you wait for a floor nomination?
Aaron: I thought about the needs of each position is very different and this is this one he was more suited for.
Josh: He was intimated before and needed time to think.

Miriam: Showwriting is hard to get people to come to, how will you try to fix that?
Josh: I will reach out to people 1 on 1.
Aaron: I tried to make it a priority and asked what time worked for people-but that didn't really work. He did find that having other events with showwriting helped attendance

Zabryna: Showwriting is supposed to be a collaborative effort, how do you handle getting input from everyone?
Aaron: Having voices means people need to show up. I could improve on feedback after shows to make better shows later.
Josh: He will do his best that everyone's opinions is heard and he won't be mean to people if their ideas are bad.

Rendy: Aaron, how will you work with 3 new people who haven't been on Board and are younger than you? Josh, how will you deal with being one of the youngest people on Board?
Aaron: All of the positions are different and VP is the least hands on. He will give them room to their jobs and not step on toes. During transition period, it would be important to give guidance
Josh: We are adults here, so one or two years is not that much of an issue.

Miriam: What are your other time commitments?
Josh: Has Jazz combos that meets once a week....and band.
Aaron: Has a job that is 8 hours a week. He only needs 10 more classes to graduate so his schedule is looking really light.

Closing statements!
Josh: Thank you for the opportunity.
Aaron: Thanks too. I put a lot of work into the poem.

We are voting on the 'Penn ANTH' part!

We are COUNTING  the votes now - it's rendo now y'all bc Emily went to help count the ballots

There are 50 people here so let's see how this goes. Greer asks about some Villanova game but I kinda zoned about this was discussed in the board meeting today.

Your 2019 Vice President is Aaron Mittleman! Congrats!

6:38pm Rendy tells us what he did as Treasurer! He made a budget and justified it to SAC. He ordered uniforms and collected dues. You should pick a Treasurer who is well organized and trustworthy.

Greer asks for floor nominations, there is none!

Chad Vigil is up!
He begins with 'My Fellow Bandos'. Chad was a transfer student and was a freshmen, twice! He was R&R this past year and he really loved it. He has talked to Emily, Rendy, Laura and Allison. He learned that you must be well organized and his spreadsheet experience from R&R was very helpful! He personally got to know many of the freshmen during R&R which is important because the Treasurer is usually the first line of contact. His biggest priority for Board will be attendance and wants to be approachable and accessible.

Nicolas Corona is up!
The Penn Band was the first group that he tried out for, and yay he made it! When he came to the Penn Band, he had to play Quads on a rickety old set. He really wanted new ones but learned how much money they cost-it's a lot! This year he has managed lots of new bells players, without enough bells. This is why he wants to be Treasurer, he will determine what we buy and will negotiate with SAC for this. As Drumline Section leader, he tries to be accessible and always wants to support new members when they are struggling.

Zabrnya: How will you handle the sensitive conversation about sponsorship/waiving dues?
Chad: I'm a FGLI student so I understand and I will keep confidentiality. He understands the being on the otherside of the conversation and will be happy to trade places
Nicolas: It's all about being accessible. He really likes Jacob's idea of having more office hours and we will always be here to help.

Melannie: Can you name 5 freshmen not in your section?
Nicolas: Iman, Jessica, Miles, Adam, Morgan
Chad: Anjali, Leah, Miles, Brian, Cami
They both did it!

Noah: How did being R&R prepare you for being treasurer?
Chad: He was really able to identity with freshmen and will carry that.
Nicolas: (speaking about being section leader) Being section leader is a microcosmic of what you have to do for Board (nice quote!). Running drumline is basically like running a mini band.

Christina: Do either have you have experience working with SAC and if not how will you learn?
Nicolas: Does not have experience, but he knows what it stands for. Nicolas and Chad both say 'Student Activity Council'. He has experience with the business office.
Chad: Does not have experience either but will rely on the transition period and ask Rendy/Emily for help.

Rendy: Why do you want to be on Board? Why Treasurer specifically?
Chad: R&R was so rewarding so he really wants to continue to his work. Treasurer seems like an upgraded R&R because its similar skills.
Nicolas: He wanted to run because of how much of an impact Board had an impact on him. He does not drink and he really liked how the band accepts him/anyone regardless of social preferences. He thinks that this will be an extension of being section leader

Melannie: Nicolas, you have another year-will you run next year? If you don't get this, what will do?
Nicolas: I would consider running again, but I don't know what my life will look like in the future.
Chad: I won't drop down if I don't get this, because I think that this is the position I am best suited for.

Megan: You're both taking classes that are high stress-can you give of example of when you deal with high stress and how you dealt with it?
Chad: At the beginning of the year, the chops were really light so there was lots of pressure to do that in the beginning of the year.
Nicolas: He is a TA for CIS120 and he had an assignment to grade the week of Homecoming. He worked with Jackson to help him with all drumline responsibilities such as copying and carrying drums.

There's some question about uniforms, but we're not sure exactly what the question was. Chad & Nicolas probably aren't going to get us new uniforms because we just got them.

Closing statements!
Nicolas: His experience makes him well suited and he's excited for the opportunity. He loves the Penn Band!
Chad: He wants to say thank you for the opportunity and for accepting him into this community.

It's time to vote! We are voting on the 'biochemistry' one because Rendy is a biochem major! Yay.

7:06pm its time for announcements and stories. Emily does a lame announcement and just asks for everyone to read the emails. DM's announce CA auditions. Richard is telling a fun story from the Eagles game...he ran into the Penn cheerleading coach at the game!

7:07pm time for results!

Chad Vigil is your 2019 Penn Band Treasurer! Congrats!

7:08 it's Urf's turn! His job is to make forms, emails, good standing and basically LOTS of bookkeeping. (Let the record show he said "Fun fact, I have no first name. My job as treasurer was.....")

Greer asks for floor nominations

Cathy Zhang nominates Jessica Conway, she accepts.
Christina Nordrum nominates Caitlin Frazee, she accepts.
Zabryna nominates Nicolas Corona, he accepts.

Floor nominations are closed! We have 4 candidates!

It's time for speeches.

It's Adam Rose's turn to speak!
Adam is from Boston and where he is from, marching band is not really a thing. He was a theater kid and didn't really do football or lacrosse (which was the big thing in Boston). (Let the record show that he called us all musicians) He knew 2 years ago that he wanted to be in the Penn Band. He waited to put his name down to run because he wasn't sure he could do this. He wanted to be someone that we could all trust. He's talked to Emily, Urf, Zabryna, Renee, etc. and he asked if he would be the best-some of us said yes, some said no. He's really happy in the band and he is ready to pass down to the next band members. He wants to have 100 people in good standing (admits that won't happen). He believes he has experience and a fresh perspective on the band.

It's Jessica Conway's turn to speak! (she corrects her mispelled name on the Board)
She's running off the floor, but she has been thinking about running. She read through the blogs and read about what the secretary needs to do and she has the excitement and passion. She has great attendance and has been to every home game, basketball game and has only missed 1 rehearsal because she overslept from a nap. She has ideas to improve the position. In high school, when she started there was no band but by the time she graduated she was Drum Major, clarinet section leader and had various other positions. From this experience, she thinks that too many google forms that get lost and wants to send out rosters more often. She wants to be at everything and wants to contribute more to the band!

It's Caitlin Frazee's turn to speak!
She wasn't planning on running until 20 minutes ago but has been thinking about it. She thought about waiting a year or two, but this is the only club she is in! She mentioned that is an all-male board and she thinks that its important to have different perspectives. She loves the current Board. She loves how you get to know freshmen to seniors in the band and she likes the idea of secretary because she gets to take attendance. She has experience with this from high school. She comes to basically everything too.

Emily: I'm the only female with 6 males, how do you plan on dealing with being freshmen females on board? Boys, how will you get female perspective?

Nicolas: He would concerned about not having a female preference and qualifications should take preference. Instrument diversity is also important
Caitlin: Girls might not be comfortable going to male Board members so she wants to be the open person.
Jessica: She's not particularly worried about it, she has been in mostly male groups before.
Adam: These are elected positions so we all have a say. If this is an all male board, we should all be comfortable going up to them. He grew up with 3 older sisters!


Noah: @Nicolas, you are the only non-freshmen, how do you think that extra year of experience will help?

Nicolas: Chad is the freshmen on board now (well you get the point if you read before). He has lots of experience writing emails and has experience at Penn and within Band.
Jessica: I didn't sign up before to leave room for my elders. She thinks she can bring a different 'fresh' perspective
Cailtin: Also didn't put her name down because she's a freshman and was unsure if we really wanted a freshman on Board.
Adam: He applauds current board for being mature (please note that 3/4 of us are wearing onesies right now but we get the sentiment). The current 'old' Board was good for this year but going forward we should have a younger Board because we are a younger Band!

Melannie: If you have more years of Board eligibility, would you run again if you don't get it? What will you do next year?

Caitlin: If I'm not secretary, I'm going to apply for Council, probably R&R. Would probably run again in the future.
Jessica: Will help anyway she can, might apply to be Travel Manager or section leader. Will help anyway she can get her hands in.
Adam: He wants to start to give back to our community. If not elected, he will continue to pursue Council positions, maybe R&R or Low Brass sleader. He would consider running again.
Nicolas: He would be open running again. He doesn't think he will apply for Drumline section leader to give others the chance to do it.

Urf (current secretary): You might have to make an announcement to the Band that people won't like. What part of the job now would you want to improve?

Jessica: Wants to fix so you can 'see' if you filled out the form. Try to minimize sending multiple emails because things get lost.
Adam: Agrees about the roster. Sparked the idea about tough decisions, he will explain things. He really liked how we had a face to face for Cornell. Also likes the Office Hours idea (good job Jacob). He likes talking to people in person over emails
Nicolas: When we canceled Cornell, drumline people went to Nicolas and he did not have the information to give them an appropriate answer. People didn't want to reach out to Board, so he would improve on with secretary and really open up by replying to secretary
Cailtin: Agrees with everything thus far. Key here is 'transparency'. As a freshmen, lots of things were overwhelming and Good standing was glossed over too quickly.
-Jessica wants to come back to tough decisions: Thinks that adults are good for giving tough decisions.

Candace Morff: She knows that Board is a lot of work and you have to make tough decisions, you guys are all young. How do you foresee yourself maintaining the enthusiasm you currently have?

Adam: Talked to previous secretaries and its important to ask for help when needed. We shouldn't be ashamed to reach out for help.
Nicolas: He doesn't see the job to be a burden. He LOVES writing emails.
Caitlin: She has some school work to do, but Band has been the happy area. Doing more work with this stuff, she found it to be more rewarding. We are all human!
Jessica: there are others around you on Board/Council who can help out.She has the most free time now since elementary school, so she has the time.

Zabryna: She didn't know how the job was very tedious and computer based, how will you learn?

Nicolas: I'm a TA for CIS120. Everything is on spreadsheets and I know how to code.
Caitlin: She has spreadsheet experience from high school.
Jessica: Also has experience with google sheets and is very comfortable with it.
Adam: Previously did more music and "will never touch CIS". He will be able to pick it up

NO MORE QUESTIONS. Time for closing statements

Nicolas: He will also be a great secretary. We have youthful influence from Chad and we do have female CA's/DMs.
Caitlin: You should not vote for me or Jessica just because they are girls. Has experience with this type of work and just loves seeing us.
Jessica: She would love to put in the work and is willing and able to everything.
Adam: Put your trust in me, I can do it. Wants to interact with next generation of bandos.

Its time to vote-we are voting on the Nursing ticket. Current Board reminds everyone not to destroy their ballots.

7:48pm its time to start Horse's Ass. Greer is telling us the origins from 1965.

tldr; a bass drummer tackled a football player.

Now we are taking nominees!

Jacob nominates Josh and Hackett for waking up late for Princeton and still making it.
Christina nominates Candace for leadin a second succession.
Low Brass nominates whoever left a bloody mouthpiece on a tuba
Zabryna nominates Emily Elenio for her state of mind during Hey Day and for tackling Greer Cheeseman during Hey Day.

Lots of other people but they aren't on the Board.

7:59pm votes are in and there's a run off between Nicolas Corona and Jessica Conway!

We are voting on the Engineering ballot!

8:05pm Rendy is telling a very long story about his flight.

Votes are in.....Jessica Conway is your 2019 Secretary! 

That's it your 2019 Executive Board is:
President: Jacob Linfesty
Vice President: Aaron Mittleman
Treasurer: Chad Vigil 
Secretary: Jessica Conway