During the final prize day at the St. George’s Senior School the Head Boy is named for the following school year. What is a Head Boy? How do you become a Head Boy? These questions can be answered in many different ways. It is difficult to become Head Boy. Only one person out of approximately 150 students in each grade gets the opportunity to be the Head Boy. You need to be different than any other student. Many students might wonder, what is the process of selection of Head Boy and is there any bias going into it? After a few interviews, we have the answers to your questions.

What is a Head Boy?

The Head Boy is voted on by students and staff as the leader of the school. Many students may wonder, what does it take to become a Head Boy?

“They have to represent the school well, they have to put a good face forward for the school, and be a good role model for the other grades. You have to have a lot of character morals and should be true to yourself,” Grade 11 student and Head Boy candidate Alex Ference stated.

To become a Head Boy you need to demonstrate good characteristics and be someone the school looks up to. “They’re supposed to be a role model, have characteristics that we want other boys to emulate, [have] high effort, someone who is the front and center of the school, and also someone who can support other people,” Head of Grade Mr. Tweedle said.

Election Process

Becoming a Head Boy is very difficult, however the election process is quite simple: “You have to fill out an application and get a couple of signatures from your classmates and a couple based on your portfolio,” indicated Alex Ference. For example, Head Boy: Dr. Matthews, Mr. Kern; Athletics: Mr. Blackman. Following this, the application forms are posted on a bulletin board in the Upper Great Hall for all the students and staff to see. Also, a student must complete a minute long video stating why they are applying for the position. There are many positive opinions towards this system.

“I think it works pretty well. The voting process is pretty standard. It’s not very flawed. It gets the job done,” Alex Ference stated.

“It’s good because it is very thorough. It makes the students look at the candidates very well,” Grade 11 student Chris King spoke.

“It fits out people who are really interested in it and you get to show what you care about in the school,” Grade 11 student and Head Boy Candidate Tristan Johnston said.

With all the positives also come some negatives. With the very standard process it is very difficult to see if a student stands out and is different from the rest.

“It’s hard when you have around 30 candidates for everyone to stand out. Maybe some public speaking form would help,” Tristan Johnston spoke.

Biasness

With every election it is easy to put bias into perspective. However, with the election at St. George’s there is no bias from staff members being put into place.

“If they are in the grade 11, their votes matter the most, Grade 12s matter second, In terms of the student’s grade 10s matter the least. And the staff matter as much as the students votes. It really has to be what the boy is and who the school votes for not just who the staff want. It is definitely not just a staff popularity contest because often time who the staff wants as their number one [candidate] is often one who doesn’t even make it as a prefect,” Mr. Tweedle said.

This system could find flaws as staff members whom are older and wiser would know more than students about the characteristics that make up a good Head Boy. When boys are statistically close on votes the process is broken down.

“If it was statistically the same we would obviously look at whether or not there is buy in from his own grade and first and foremost the staff as we look at those two bodies and say for example if one boy is only getting grade 10 votes versus a boy who is getting his own grades’ votes and staff votes, we would probably weigh the kid who had his own grades votes more than the boy who just had all the grade 10s and 12s [votes]. We also ask questions like why we think the votes lay where they lay. We might have other conversations with teachers who’ve taught him before. We rarely bring in the boys at that time and ask them about their friends, it’s a tough position to put them in. We definitely want to get it right and we also don’t want to circumvent the democratic part of the process,” Mr.Tweedle stated.

To make up a good Head Boy you must have the right qualities. A Head Boy must display the correct characteristics and be a role model to the entire school. It is difficult to become a Head Boy, you need to be unique and different than everyone else. The current selection system does not help separate the unique students with good characteristic from an average student. With the very vague election process it is difficult for a candidate to show the students that he is different from everyone else. The students’ votes equalling the same amount as the staff votes could be a problem because students tend to vote for the people who are funny or someone who is their friend while the staff members tend to vote for the students with the best characteristics and character morale. There are positive and negatives with the Head Boy election process; however, the result of the Head Boy and his character is what truly matters.