Samo Junior Lily Chertock Elected JSA SoCal Governor
by Olivia Mayers, staff writer
Samo Junior Lilly Chertock (’21) has been elected as the Junior State of America’s (JSA) new Southern California Governor for the 2020-2021 school year.
JSA is a student-run and student-led organization where participants build leadership skills, learn about the government and learn how to engage in civil political debate. Chertock joined JSA at the beginning of her freshman year and since then has continued to rise through the ranks. As a sophomore, she was a member of the SoCal cabinet, serving as a deputy in the fundraising department and was a Chapter Officer. This past year, Chertock served as her chapter’s president and one of Southern California’s Directors of Development. As the JSA Chapter President, Lilly hosts meetings every Monday (now via Zoom) and is supervised by their advisor, Samo English teacher Amy Chapman.
Traditionally, the JSA election process has consisted of campaigns that were a combination of online outreach and connecting with voters at various JSA events. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all in-person events have been canceled and the campaign was moved entirely online. Chertock ran against one other student and was active on her Instagram account, @LillyForGov. She continuously posted information about her platform, went on Instagram Live and posted videos and endorsements. In order to interact with potential voters, Chertock reached out through direct messages and created a JSA-themed parody of the song TikTok by Kesha.
Chertock did not work the campaign alone; she had a campaign team that helped her spread the word about her platform and speak to voters. One of the campaign team members was videographer and Samo student Kaelen Song (’21).
“The campaign for Governor was a long road, but one worth traveling! It was so much fun to work with Lilly and the rest of the campaign team. It was an amazing experience and to end up winning the election was an added bonus,” Song said.
The campaign season lasted from February 16 to April 13. In previous years, students would vote at the last overnight convention of the year, Spring State, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the convention was canceled and the voting took place online over the course of five days. On April 19, the election results were announced through a live webinar where students could also give acceptance or concession speeches. Along with the announcement of the new Governor, the positions of both Speaker of the Assembly and Lieutenant Governor were announced.
The center of Chertock’s platform is community involvement. Her goal is to bring Southern California together and to have more opportunities for non-cabinet members to participate and to give feedback about both their chapter and the state.
“That feeling we get when we’re at conventions, of being part of something bigger, should be felt year-round,” Chertock said.
As Governor she wants to establish a “Party Council,” which would consist of people from across the political spectrum. This council would advise the SoCal JSA debate department and work throughout the year to help reduce polarization and partisanism within the program.
“I want to create a Chapter Ambassadors program, led by the state’s Cabinet Liaison. This would be an email list of any number of people, who would like to get their weekly dose of JSA, and the latest SoCal announcements. These ambassadors would make sure that the word goes out to their chapters. Anyone would be able to become an ambassador, at any point in the year,” Chertock said