At the end of the first semester, after careful consideration and discussion, committee reviews were released, and the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) Committee received a “fail.”

According to Director of Committee Affairs (DCA) Jalen Benjamin, this was due to “low effort and “low quality.” According to the constitution, a fail is classified as a “committee [which] may have done some work, but it was minimal and of low quality. The committee seemed to show no interest in following advice from the cabinet, or attempting to turn their committee around after mid semesters.”

SADD held one event in the fall semester, a questions period in November, out of the required two per semester (the second was scheduled post-grades). “Their first event didn’t seem like it had a lot of planning that went into it,” Benjamin said. “It didn’t really have a structure.”

SADD is comprised of seniors Alex Chapman, Magda Farrug, and Jack Cordwell; juniors Sydney Garelick, Danielle Slazas, Matthew Metzler, and Amaya Contracter; and sophomore Alex Ori.

The committee was impeached, resulting in the holding of a re-election.

After SADD failed, they were determined to regain their spot. The group developed four main goals for the year: to bring back SADD week, to send out anonymous google forms to receive information and concerns from the school, to expand SADD’s focus to bullying and mental health, and to host meetings in which students would talk to speakers and watch documentaries throughout the semester.

“We decided to re-run because we knew we’d put more effort into it,” Garelick said. “We felt that running again would show that we really wanted to change how the student body saw us as heads.”

The committee ran against a newly formed group of seniors Liliana Bravo, Natalia Hernandez, and Molly Weinberg; junior Chloe Mackemore Gonzalez; and sophomore Andy Wessman.

According to Wessman, the new group decided to run due to the fact that they “felt that SADD was kind of a wasted opportunity.”

Wessman’s group’s main goals were to expand SADD’s focus on bullying and hazing, to host monthly meetings, and to hold educational seminars for underclassmen during Graderoom.

On Friday, January 26, during U-Lunch, students from all grades gathered around the catboxes and art library to cast their votes. That night, an email was sent out to the school revealing the new SADD Committee Heads: Bravo, Hernandez, Weinberg, Mackmore Gonzalez, and Wessman.

“I feel like we won because a lot of people want to see a change in what SADD is doing,” Mackmore Gonzalez said. “I think the student body was tired of having nothing productive being done in SADD.”

“We know the new heads will do a great job,” Garelick said. “We can’t wait to see what they accomplish.”