Senior Mateo Zarate was elected personero for the 2022-23 school year with 67.8% of the vote in a school-wide election held last week. 

Zarate won with a total of 528 out of 779 votes cast. His main proposals are to bring back activities that were done before the pandemic, tie them to current school activities, and make school a friendlier place for everyone.

“I want to bring back what we lost in the pandemic by bringing back things like buddies, extracurricular activities, the bookstore, and freedom to make different clothing designs for the school,” Zarate said.

Zarate’s experience as a leader was one faction in his victory over the three other candidates, Illana Garces, Samuel Perez, and Miguel Cardenas.

“Normally there are 2 or 3 candidates but this year there are a lot of people interested which is good but not all of them meet the criteria,” Felipe Naranjo, STUCO Advisor, said.

According to STUCO advisor and HS teacher Felipe Naranjo, the personero acts as a doorway between the school board and students allowing them to connect and benefit from each other for the sake of making the best possible school environment. 

“The school uses the personero a lot to ask them questions and to mediate between them and students so personeros are really important,” Naranjo, Fsaid.

The personero is required  to have a minimum grade of 3 on academic responsibility, behavior, not have any type of faltas, and passing all classes.

“One of my close friends Matias Alzate wanted to run for personeria. He had always been the STUCO but because he had a falta grave he couldn’t run, so because of that I went for the position and implemented my own ideas,” Zarate, said.

Becoming personero is a 4-week  long process. Candidates make a video about their proposals, then in the second week begin to campaign and create publicity. Candidates visit the entire school meeting with students from grades 3-12 to explain their proposals. In week 4 students vote and the winner is announced. 

“Mateo Zarate is a great leader for this year of personero, he has a great vision for the future, and what’s better for next generations, his proposals are awesome, and I think he is the best for the position,” Candelaria Villegas, Grade 6, said.

One of the qualities Zarate is known for is his leadership as the captain of the HS Boys Basketball team.

“He is the best leader and captain that I have met until today, he is respectful, trustworthy, caring and always thinking what is best for everyone both in and outside of the court,” Tomas Galeano, Grade 11 member of the HS Boys Basketball Team, said.