There are two things almost every high school student government has in common: no one has any idea what it does, and electing new people to office is basically based on popularity.

So why would anyone want to run? I thought I knew the answer when I ran for freshman class representative at the start of the year, but I quickly found out that I had no clue what I was doing.

My campaign consisted of covering every inch of exposed wall space with bright yellow posters, until someone wrote “don’t vote for her” on one as a joke and the offensive poster was shown to the entire school at an assembly.

I occasionally awkwardly asked people if I had their vote, which was usually met with stares at the ground and choruses of “I haven’t decided yet.” When we gave our speeches to the rest of the freshmen, the other candidates wore skirts and high heels; I wore ripped jeans and, in an effort to make my speech stand out, threw a “Vote Fina” sign across the room.

I did not get elected.

Yet when it came time to elect representatives for sophomore year, I jumped at the chance to run again, ready to use what I had learned from a year of stewing over what could possibly have gone wrong with my brilliant campaign.

I tried to seem more organized than before, only putting up posters in a few strategic places in the school (instead of everywhere from the lid of a box of sports equipment to the middle of the girls’ bathroom mirror.) I took special care to make my speech professional: I did not throw any signs across the room, and I wore jeans that were not ripped.

While I do not yet know if I was elected to be sophomore class rep, my two campaigns have given me a new respect for candidates running for actual office. I don’t know how George Bush and Al Gore waited a month for the final decision in 2000. In my case, it’s been a day and I already can’t take it any longer.

Fina Short, 14, is a freshman at Eastside Preparatory School. She lives in Medina.