The Freshman Class of 2026 at Riverside Brookfield High School has elected their class officers: Mirabelle Lopresti as President, Soleil Kaciuba as Vice President, Emelia Royer as Secretary, Ben Buoscio as Treasurer, and Sofia Sanchez and Claire Burdett as Appointed Officers.

Elections for the new class officers were held on Wednesday, September 7 and closed the following day. Freshmen were encouraged to fill out a ballot sent through their school email. Class President Mirabelle Lopresti has many plans for this year and wants to work with her peers to improve everyone’s experience at RB.

“Well as President, I think it’s important to bring the student body together and best represent them,” Lopresti said. “I believe in servant leadership in the sense that what the student body feels should be brought to the attention of the representatives, and so what I want to do is bring everybody together and put their aspirations and goals in the forefront. I’ve actually taken the liberty of interviewing a few people directly and specifically asking them ‘Hey, what’s one thing you would change about this school’ and I plan on taking that and turning it into initiatives with the rest of my colleagues to improve student life here.”

The class officers have different responsibilities and duties depending on their position. One of the main responsibilities that all officers have is to attend weekly SA meetings before school. Vice President Soleil Kaciuba enjoys attending weekly meetings to discuss school wide events.

“Going to the meetings in the morning is really fun,” Kaciuba said. “For homecoming we helped paint the posters and hang them up and decorate around the school.”

Secretary Emilia Royer looks forward to the social and communal aspect of SA.

“I’m looking forward to just getting to talk with the other freshman class officers and making good decisions that will benefit everyone in the freshman class,” Royer said.

Royer plans to help with fundraising events throughout the year, as does Appointed Officer Sofia Sanchez.

“I’m looking forward to being able to fundraise and do all of the drives,” Sanchez said. “I know we have some coming up that we planned, so I’m excited.”

The candidates for the class officer positions ran for different reasons. Lopresti ran because she has previous experience in leadership roles.

“I’ve always taken leadership positions everywhere I’ve gone. It’s just something that’s always stuck out to me. I don’t mean to get too deep into things, but in our current political environment, like what’s going on in the actual government, I felt the responsibility to step up and improve my life and the people who I know, like our lives, more directly,” Lopresti said.

In an effort to better the RB community, Kaciuba’s goal is to be encouraging for her peers.

“Honestly I just wanted to be a leader for my class and be a support system for them,” Kaciuba said.

Emelia Royer ran because her brother Vice President of the SA Executive Board, Sam Royer, recommended that she run for a position.

“My brother is on the executive board and he told me that I should do it, so I just went for it and it’s been fun so far,” Emelia Royer said.

Sanchez was inspired to run because she wanted to get involved as a freshman and wanted to participate in extracurriculars her first year at RB.

“I wanted to get involved right away,” Sanchez said. “Coming in as a freshman you really want to do something.”

Lopresti encourages the student body to speak up for change and would like to let the student body know that she’s ready to begin working alongside them.

“I’d like to say that I’m here to work for you,” Lopresti said. “I’m here to be with you and do the best I can for you. If you have anything that you want to bring to the attention of the class officers, not just freshman, but just as a whole, don’t be afraid to step out and say that because things are always the way that they are until they’re not and until someone comes in and says ‘Hey let’s do this differently.’”