AN ADAPTION OF THE ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS INTO FILM WHAT QUALITIES MUST A PERSON HAVE TO STAND ALONE FOR THE TRUTH? WHEN IS STAYING SILENT THE RIGHT THING TO DO, AND WHEN IS IT RIGHT TO NAME NAMES? BY: HANNAH NELSON, ERIN GAFFNEY, AND JILLIAN PALUBICKI Appointing Presidency

Setting Small public high school Suburban town outside of Chicago, Illinois Johnson High School Present Day

Main Characters (Candidates) Ben: The returning class president and varsity hockey captain. He was recently injured in a game and is unable to finish his season, resulting in the loss of his college scholarship. Claire: Receiving perfect grades, Claire is a top contender in the election. Also recently broken up with her boyfriend, Ben (fellow candidate), she is determined to win with vengeance. Jonathan: Co-founder of the chess team, Jonathan is looking to improve his social status, and acquire his dream girl, Claire. Amelia: Recently moved from Russia, Amelia is determined to find her place in the school and make herself known.

Plot Synopsis It is time for the 2012 presidential election at Johnson High School, and along with these kinds of events are the typical high school drama. Ben is the returning president from the pervious year and also broke up with his girlfriend, Claire, just a few weeks ago, and this year she has decided to enter the race for leadership to beat Ben out of it. They spend almost most of their campaigns spreading the dirty truth about one and other just to try and push themselves ahead. Joining in on this trend of vengeance is Jonathan, who joined the election to try and win over the heart of his dream girl, Claire. To try to make Claire like him more, he starts creating lies about Ben to try and keep him from rising up. On the outskirts of this love-triangle is new foreign student Amelia who is trying to start her new life in America the right way, in charge, and the only way she knows how to do this is to throw others on the bus. When she first came everyone saw her as the sweet new girl, but little does anyone know she can be darker than everyone else.

Climatic Scene Ben, Claire, Jonathan and Amelia are sitting side but side on the stage as they watch the whole school pour in to the auditorium. Everything has come down to this, the school assembly right before the ballots are filled out, where each of the candidates give their finishing speeches to try to win the student body over, it is anyone’s game. Each contender walks up to the microphone one by one, delivering their speeches. Following in one another’s footsteps, they deliver promising, motivating speeches, promising benefits to the whole school but also in each one of their speeches is bad talk about all the other candidates. Until last but not least its Claire’s turn. She starts off the same as everyone else until in the middle she realizes that all the drama, tears, and lies are not what presidency is about. Claire starts standing up against all the lies and bad-mouthing, and as she keeps taking back all the awful things she has said the crowd slowly starts rising and cheering her on. Soon after when the ballots were counted it was unanimous, Claire was the 2012 president of Johnson High’s junior class.

Quotable Lines “I’ve been through some tough situations. But this is one thing that I won’t give up. I can’t lose this election like I’ve lost everything else.” – Ben “Nothing can hold me back. I am invincible.” – Claire

Film Tag Lines “Voting for more than just class president.” “Nobody said it was easy, but high school was not supposed to be this hard.”

Thematic Lessons Stand up for you believe Don’t be afraid to stand up alone or against your friends The truth is always worth standing up for no matter what the consequences Naming names is should not be used for self benefit Telling the truth will have its rewards in the end