April has been a significant month for the Minnetonka High School community, bringing with it the much-anticipated student government elections. On Friday, April 8, elections for student government president took place. The following week, elections for the other three executive positions—treasurer, vice president and secretary—were held. Finally, elections for representatives took place April 22. 

Meleck Eldahshoury, ‘23, was elected student government president for the upcoming school year. 

“It definitely feels good,” Eldahshoury said about winning the position. “The role hasn’t fully started yet, but I’m excited for it.” 

To prepare for the elections, Eldahshoury said that she started planning her campaign a couple weeks before spring break.

“I thought of the ‘Vote Meleck, Vote Community’ [slogan] because I didn’t want [my campaign] to be about me,” she said. “I work at a camera store, so I thought it might be fun to take disposable cameras and take pictures of people holding my sign, and then I’d be taking photos of the community. It’d be a full-circle moment.” 

Eldahshoury also thought balloons would be fun to use as part of her campaign because they were creative and displayed her campaign color: purple. In addition to promoting her slogan, Eldahshoury said that she spent a fair amount of time connecting with the students at Minnetonka. 

“I made sure to talk to the community, especially the people I didn’t know, like underclassmen and other groups. I talked to them to find out what they’re looking for and what they’re thinking about the candidates, and I made sure they were being heard, so it wasn’t just a popularity contest,” Eldahshoury said. 

Eldahshoury added that one of the priorities that emerged from her conversations with other students at MHS is the need to have their points of view recognized. 

“Something that I heard from a lot of people was that they weren’t really being seen or heard. I think that’s really important—I know that there are so many different kinds of people at the high school, and, from the people that I talked to, I just want to make sure everyone is being seen and that their words are part of this community,” Eldahshoury said. 

For Eldahshoury, one of the things she is most looking forward to is meeting new people. 

“I think that through this position I’ll be able to meet more kinds of people and hear more about their lives,” she said. “I’m excited for that.” 

When asked her feelings about getting to work with such a talented group of students, student government adviser Theresa Ellis said she is “honored. It’s a blessing.” 

“Oftentimes the best part of [her] day is being with these kids,” Ellis added. 

“I am thankful for the kids that run and are a part of our group and are willing to be committed and passionate and have a love of their school and the community. I’m just thankful for them,” she said. 

Eldahshoury emphasized everything that she’s taken away from the experience of running for and winning her position. 

“Something I want to say to everyone is that you shouldn’t let other people say that you don’t deserve something or you shouldn’t do something. I learned a lot about taking chances because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if those chances don’t go anywhere, it’s about doing stuff.” 

Additionally, she stressed the importance of creativity and kindness. 

“Kindness will get you everywhere. There needs to be so much more kindness in the world, and I want to help spread that. That’s such a generic thing to say, but kindness is really the core of everything,” she said. “Kindness and creativity. Those are the things that will get you to the places you want to go in life.” 

Ellis encouraged everyone who is interested in improving school climate and morale to run for student government next spring. 

“Anybody that has a passion for doing good things for others, someone who is hardworking and committed, those are all good qualities,” Ellis said. “[Student government] is a great place to be and form a really close bond with a group of friends.” 

Eldahshoury also expressed that it was important that other students feel like they can approach her with anything on their minds. 

“I want people to come to me with whatever they want, and I want people to trust me with whatever they need to talk about,” Eldahshoury said. “I’m here to be administration’s friend, but I’m also the students’ friend, and I will always put the students first.” 

“I want to be that person you guys can talk to. I want to represent you guys,” Eldahshoury said.