Student leadership, voice, and choice is at the heart of Rashi’s program. Whether you hold a title or work behind the scenes, students are encouraged to be active members within their community. There’s no better example of this than the Middle School student government elections.
Starting in Grade 6, students have the opportunity to join Rashi’s award-winning student government. It is through this program that students organize service projects, such as their bake sale for California wildfire victims and an annual school supply drive. They engage with nonprofit partners like JFS of Metrowest for guest lessons, and they advocate for meaningful change within Rashi—including the addition of our new Kehillah Cafe! Rashi’s student government is consistently recognized as a ‘No Place for Hate’ program by the Anti-Defamation League, and they consistently earn The National Student Council Gold Award.
After weeks of preparation: making posters, planning campaign strategies, and drafting speeches, student Vice President and Presidential candidates for the 2026-2027 school year presented to their Middle School and Grade 5 peers. This year’s candidates focused heavily on themes of unity between the Middle and Lower Schools.
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- Vice Presidential Candidate Charlotte S.
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- Vice Presidential Candidate Alex G.
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- Vice Presidential Candidate Lola C.
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- Vice Presidential Candidate Elie S.
“It is so important to me that Rashi is a tight-knit community,” said Presidential candidate Max N.
“My idea is to have sixth graders spend more quality time with fifth graders,” said VP candidate Lola C.
Students also spoke about strengthening the communication between student government, the general Middle School population, and administrators. As Presidential candidate Ben S. proposed, “I’m going to create a program called ‘Ten,’ where students get to sign up once a month to share whatever is on their mind for ten minutes.”
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- Presidential Candidate Max N.
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- Presidential Candidate Hattie L.
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- Presidential Candidate Ben S.
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- Presidential Candidate Maya S.
“I will work to provide feedback to school administration from a unified student perspective,” promised VP candidate Elie S.
Some candidates branched out from the internal Rashi community to incorporate their peers outside of Rashi as well. As Presidential candidate Hattie L. shared, “We have a strong community in the Middle School. In order to expand that, I want to make our dances include other people, such as ‘bring a friend’ dances or doing a social with another school.”
Every candidate spoke with confidence and warmth, capturing their classmates’ attention and excitement for future possibilities. After Grades 5-8 cast their votes, Ben S. was elected President and Elie S. was elected Vice President for the 2026-27 school year.
“My main goal is for student voices to not only be heard, but acted upon,” said Elie in his speech to his peers.
“I have a great Vice President, and together we’ll do amazing things,” proclaimed Ben.
We look forward to working with these outstanding students, and the student government as a whole, when they reconvene in August for another year of community building and action. Mazal tov to the candidates!