Emmany Thao

Our future ASB president for the class of 2025, Emmany Thao, shows off her school spirit. Each new candidate is ready to bring their all to contribute to the school.

LOS ALAMITOS, CA — Another year of ASB elections at Los Alamitos High School has come and gone. Student votes were tallied up, and the ASB presidents of 2025 were announced: Emmany Thao will be ASB president alongside Jillian Muller, the ASB vice president. Emma Lee and Maddie Shafer will be next year’s senior class co-presidents. These winning candidates are ready to bring on the school spirit next year for Los Al. 

Lee and Muller were not able to give a response by the time of publishing, but they are both here to make the class of 2025 proud.

The inspiration to run for president

Shafer knows that senior year will be her last year, which is why she has taken on the responsibility of making it the most memorable. When the class of 2025 is finished, she hopes seniors will leave school feeling proud to have graduated from Los Al.

“I was inspired to run for senior co-president because senior year is very special, and I want the class of 2025 to have a memorable senior year,” Shafer said.

“Ryan Ramirez, who is our current ASB president, inspired me to run for ASB president,” Thao said. “He is so well-spoken and truly advocates for all the students at Los Al. I’ve always loved the idea of being someone people could come to so they could have their opinions heard and suggestions acknowledged. Thanks to Ryan, I had the extra push and courage to become that person.” 

Thao’s perspective to take into account past leaders who have made a positive impact allows her to build off these concepts and improve from there. Specifically, Thao is focused on improving school spirit and trying to get other students on campus to embrace their school.

“As a senior co-president, I plan to prioritize being inclusive in addition to making sure all events, especially senior events, have a positive environment and run smoothly,” Shafer added. 

Providing an inclusive environment for students to interact with one another creates a safe school and causes there to be joy all around campus. With Shafer and Thao teaming together with the other senior presidents, they will make this idea of campus a reality for all of the current and future Griffins.

“My plans to contribute to Los Al next year are to keep old traditions alive and make sure everyone gets a chance to experience the best of it all,” Thao said. “I want to ensure that our school maintains its electric school spirit that makes us stand out from other high schools.”

Traditions are important when it comes to a school because it keeps the school running on their core values, opposed to breaking away and losing school spirit.

“The best way to do this is by having an environment with welcoming energy and a school year filled with unforgettable memories, and that is exactly what I plan on doing,” Thao said. 

Difficulties in running for president

“The most difficult part of the campaign process definitely was things not going as I envisioned but being forced to embrace change,” Shafer said.

The process of any campaign can be difficult and tiring, considering the preparations and nervous anticipation of results. However, Shafer and Thao were able to engage their audience and knew exactly how to capture their attention.

“The entirety of campaign week. The material, preparations, the posters/flyers set up days, taking all of the posters/flyers down by a certain deadline, and really pushing my name out to freshmen- junior students. Luckily I had so many amazing friends who were willing to help me throughout the whole process and got me through it all to the end, regardless if I won or lost,” Thao said.

Post election results and celebrations

Thao and Shafer deserved to celebrate due to all of the challenges they faced prior to the election results, and what better way to celebrate with their friends and family? Shafer went out to her favorite restaurant for dinner with her family, and Thao went to the beach with friends.

“I was initially shocked, as I didn’t believe I would win. There were so many good candidates and campaigns. After the initial surprise, I felt proud and excited to represent my class and make them feel heard,” Shafer said.

“Getting the call that I won the election was unreal. I was in the self-checkout line with my friends, and it took a second to process that I had actually won. But once all the rushing feelings settled in, I was nothing but thrilled,” Thao said.