Mindy Kim, Class President

My name is Mindy Kim. I am eight years old, and I’m now in third grade!

So far, third grade isn’t as easy as second grade. There is a lot more homework, and the math is harder. But there are lots of fun new things too! We have new responsibilities, like helping our teacher, Mr. Brady, around the classroom. We also have a classroom guinea pig, Mr. Snuffles!

I sit next to Mr. Snuffles in class. He’s a little smelly, but he’s so cute that I don’t mind. Mr. Snuffles has brown-and-white fur and large black eyes. Occasionally, he makes funny little squeaking sounds that make me smile. On special occasions, like someone’s birthday, Mr. Brady puts a bow tie around his neck!

Today Mr. Brady announced that we’re having class-president elections.

“I know it’s October, and everyone’s probably busy preparing for Halloween this weekend, but it’s been two weeks since our old class president, Dill, moved away,” he explained. “So we need someone to replace him. And what could be a better time to have a class election than next week, when the adults in our country will vote for a new president of the United States?”

Dill was really nice, and he was such a good class president, too! he was one of the first friends I made when I moved to Florida last year. I was really sad when he moved away.

Priscilla raised her hand. She’s the girl who sits at the front of the class and always asks questions.

“Yes, Priscilla?”

“What do we have to do during the class-president election?” she asked.

“Oh, I think you were absent when we had the election last time,” said Mr. Brady. “Why don’t we go through the rules one more time? It’s always good for everyone to have a reminder.”

He smiled at all of us. “Anyone who wants to run for class president has to give a speech about why they should win. You will also need to make campaign posters and bring them to class by this Friday. You should memorize the speech if you can, so be sure to ask your mom or dad for help!”

Mr. Snuffles squeaked, as if agreeing with Mr. Brandy. I wonder who Mr. Snuffles would vote for if he could!

Mr. Brady continued. “Next Monday you will give your speech, and then everyone in the class will vote for our new president. I’ll pass our a fill-in-the-blank speech-planning sheet to help everyone out!”

He started handing out the sheets. When he have me one, I stared at the paper.

We had to talk about so many different things, like our three best traits and what we would do as class president. It looked fun, but it also made me very nervous. I tucked the paper away in my backpack because just reading it make me feel scared.

When we’d first had classroom elections in August, I’d been too scared to run. I like people, but I don’t like speaking in front of the class. Whenever we have to present in front of everybody for special projects, it makes my tummy hurt and I feel really dizzy.

“You should run this time, Mindy!” said Sally, my best friend. “You have so many friends. You’ll win for sure!”

I shook my head. “I don’t know…speeches are scary.”

“Well, you  can practice! My mom said she used to hate speeches too, but it’s easy for her now since she does it almost every day for her job. You just need to practice lots and you’ll be okay!”

Sally’s belief in me made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe she was right. Maybe I could really be the next class president!

But I was still scared. What if I froze and couldn’t remember a single thing? What if my voice sounded funny and made everyone laugh?

I needed to talk to Dad. He would help me figure out what to do!