Sanghvi wins SMOB election

Incumbent Sagar Sanghvi was reelected as Student Member of the Board (SMOB) for the 2004-2005 school year, beating Blair junior Amanda Lee.

According to an e-mail sent by MCPS Coordinator of Student Affairs Karen Crawford, Sanghvi, a junior at Colonel Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville, won with 58.21 percent of the vote. All high schools and middle schools in the county participated in the election with a voter turnout of 83.2 percent.

In order to get nominated for SMOB, Lee had to overcome the difficulty of missing 19 votes from Blair delegates after the SGA missed an application deadline. Lee finished with 41.79 percent of the vote in a race much closer than last year's. "I'm proud of how I did," she said. "I'm told it was one of the closer elections in SMOB history."

Lee felt Sangvhi benefited from his status as the incumbent because his position came along with "face and name recognition." In order to stay competitive in the race, Lee said she visited schools and distributed a promotional video. "I think the fact that I did campaign actively helped make up for Sagar's advantage as the incumbent," she said.

Lee was not sure what role, if any, she will have in student government in the future, but said she "would like to stay involved. This experience was a really good one for me. My interest in education policy has only become more intense."

During Sanghvi's first year in office, his activities included helping to set up the Student Advisory Committee, voting against shutting down vending machines in schools and campaigning against the proposed new grading policy.

"I know that [Sanghvi will] do a good job next year," Lee said. "I hope that this election has helped him get a better sense of things that he could focus on next year."

More information to come.