COASTAL OBSERVER

No scandal. No mudslinging. No dirty tricks.

The race for student body president at Waccamaw High School may be among the most civil elections in the country this year.

“I feel like politics are definitely something that’s interesting but it’s not for me,” said Wilson Rutherford, a junior and current student body vice president.

“It’s more about attacking other people rather than pulling yourself up,” said Jessie Hammel, a junior who learned she won the election Wednesday morning.

It wasn’t politics as usual as Rutherford and Hammel put together campaigns this month for student body president.

“They feel so passionately about wanting to be the Warrior, the leader of this group, that they were willing to put themselves out there and possibly lose,” said Julie Humowitz, who has been the faculty adviser since 1994. “That, to me, speaks volumes about both of those young people. That makes me feel good that we have people that want to compete for that.”

Waccamaw High’s Student Council was named the best in the state among schools its size for the 20th consecutive year. It also brought home Gold Honor Council from the S.C. Association of Student Councils earlier this month.

There are 43 active members of student council, Humowitz added. Each class can have five representatives and two senators,

but not every student is willing to take on that challenge, she said. Only four students will represent the junior class next year due to a lack of participation in the election.

“That worries me a little bit,” Humowitz said. “It’s hard to put yourself out there and know that you may not come out as the winner.”

“There’s finally some competition,” said Abby Williams, a senior and current student body president. “It’s starting to pick back up. People do want to get stuff done and have a passion for something.”

Williams, who was awarded the Terry McCoy Hall of Fame award this month, said it was the “natural next step” to become the president after serving as the student body vice president last year. She ran unopposed for president.

“If you love what you do, it comes really easy,” she said.

The candidates said there will be no contention between them. Rutherford will continue to be a part of council.

That’s part of the sportsmanship quality all members are expected to have and display, Humowitz said.

“When they decided to run against each other, my heart kind of broke a little bit. I was like, ‘oh, they’re both so good.’ Our student body will be fortunate with whichever person they have chosen,” she said. “Being the leader just means that you’re out in the front. You can be a leader from the pack, and sometimes that’s even more important.”

“We both understand that it’s in good hands whichever way it falls,” Hammel said in an interview before the results were announced this week. “I’m sure we care about it just as much as these politicians do but it’s just a different scheme of things.”

Rutherford said he was glad to give his peers a choice.

“It makes people have to decide. It’s not mindless, in a way that there’s actually a reason to care about student council,” he said.

It’s the small things that add up in a campaign, Hammel said, such as asking a freshman how their semester is going or simply remembering their name.

Hammel, whose father is principal of Waccamaw High, was trying to let the underclassmen put a face to her name.

She said it was important to talk to freshmen and sophomores because it’s expected that the juniors have their choice already in mind.

“I was quite literally chasing these kids around the cafeteria. I kept telling them, ‘if you forget my name on election day, it’s on your wrist,’” she said. “The freshmen and sophomores can be swayed so easily. That’s where you have to dig in because that’s where the majority of the votes come from.”

That was a lesson she learned from last year’s election for vice president, Hammel said, where she and Rutherford went head-to-head for the position.

“He campaigned harder than I did, and so he won. It’s strategy, it’s not popularity,” she said. “I was crushed last year but I learned so much through that about campaigning. I went into it completely different this year.”

“Our school’s pretty small and we all know each other for the most part. I feel like face to face is good because people see you in the hallways and they kind of have an idea of who you are,” Rutherford added.

He moved to the Pawleys Island area three years ago from West Point, NY. Rutherford said he ran as a way to give back to student council – a club that he said he gravitated toward that made him feel at home.

“It was pretty different coming here where everyone’s known each other their whole lives,” Rutherford said. “I’m really happy I can bring something new to Waccamaw and a different set of ideas.”

Rutherford, an All-American member of the boys track and field team, ran on the idea that every Warrior “has a lane on the track.” He advocated for each student to have a vote on the homecoming theme and collaboration between student council and the fine arts department at the high school.

Humowitz said Rutherford is a “steady” leader, which she gave his running background credit.

“You’ve got to have that steady pace, and when you have that steady pace, people know what your expectation is and they’ve got to keep up,” she said. “I respect that a lot.”

Hammel said she was focused on increasing student engagement. Some students view school spirit as embarrassing, she said, and student council exists to set the expectations of Warrior pride.

An effective student body president is one that sets their ego aside to set that example, she said.

“You set the tone. That’s going to be reflected in how you lead,” Hammel said. “You can fake it ‘til you make it but in some way, everyone’s going to see through it.”

“She’s got this energy. I mean, she’s just like this bouncing ball,” Humowitz said. “Before you know it, she’s collected all this information, and then she’s got a plan.”