On Friday, September 6 Annual Prefect Elections were held at Daraja Academy. In the weeks prior, lunch and dinner conversations were filled with chatter about nominations and the upcoming elections, and the girls were all excited to elect their newest school leaders.

A prefect is a representative of the student body with a specialized position. For example, the compost prefect is responsible for ensuring that the compost is turned regularly and that food scraps are brought out to the farm each week. They participate in these duties and oversee a number of students who manage the composting at Daraja.

There are 11 prefect positions in total, including the “Head Girl” position, which can compare to “Student Body President” in the United States. The Head Girl oversees all the prefect positions, serves as a communicator between the administration and the students, holds school meetings, and makes announcements to the students about programs, workshops, and updates.

At the beginning of the election, the previous prefects were called up to be acknowledged and turn in their navy and white striped prefect ties, a special part of the school uniform that prefects wear to be recognizable while the rest of the students wear solid grey ties.

“You did us proud, you grew, you changed, and you are a better leader now. We all say thank you,” Victoria addressed the outgoing prefects.

This year, students and staff nominated over 30 girls for the 11 positions. Of those 30 nominated girls, 12 of them were in the Form 1 class. While a few positions were uncontested, many had an incredibly tight race.

Elections were held democratically, with each nominee who chose to run standing and reciting her name and desired position and students voting for candidates by secret ballot. The girl who won the majority of votes, counted by the staff, was declared the winner.

“As you vote,” instructed teacher Carol, “you are giving the winner the authority to lead you. Your vote always counts.”

The moment we’ve all been waiting for, here are the new 2013 Daraja Prefects:

Dining Hall Prefect: Mary O. Form 1

Sports Prefect: Joyce Form 3

Environment and Grounds Prefect: Charity Form 3

Farm Prefect: Alice Form 2

Compost Prefect: Rachel, Form 2

Computer Prefect: Lilian Form 3

Lilbrary Prefect: Irene N. Form 3

Harley Hall (Dorm) Prefect: Fatuma Form 3

Utamu Hall (Dorm) Prefect: Lilian T. Form 2

Malaika Hall (Dorm) Prefect: Dianah Form 2

Last, by certainly not least, our newest Daraja Head Girl is Yvonne Form 3.

The girls all shouted and cheered during the announcement of their newest leaders. With hugs and celebration the new prefects are excited to take on the year and do Daraja proud!