The Democrats club, which strives to bring about change in the greater society, has now undergone change within itself. Following the graduation of Cameron Samuels, who was president of the club for three years, the role has been passed on to senior Iris Cheng, who has been a member of the club since her freshman year.

“I think that getting people involved in politics is a really important element of any officer position in any kind of political club,” Cheng said. “But I thought that especially because I was so connected with the elements of the community that we had been getting involved in previously in sophomore and junior year that I would want to continue those endeavors and continue Cameron’s legacy in Seven Lakes and in our communities.”

With a new president comes a new administration and new ideas. This year, the Democrats club is planning to expand its activities to make it more relevant to current events related to school and beyond.

“We want to create a bipartisan forum where members of the community can come together,” Cheng said. “We were a really big presence at school board meetings last year, but we recognized that not many people could come physically to school board meetings. We wanted to create a community forum where people could exchange opinions and debate topics that were relevant to school board meetings.”

Cheng said she is planning to make the Democrats club more active in the current political scene by getting the club involved in the midterm elections.

“The midterms are coming up really soon in November, and that’s the main focus of our club,” Cheng said. “This year is about getting really politically involved in campaigns and reaching out to members of the community that should be civically engaged. We’re going to have multiple speakers who are running for office such as Titus Benton, who’s running for Texas State Senate, and others.”

Another aspect of the club that will be introduced by Cheng will involve the Mock Trial club, which is new for this year and Cheng is also president of.

“In October, we’re going to have a collaboration meeting between the Democrats club and Mock Trial where we invite judge Mike Engelhart, who is also a candidate for a court justice position,” Cheng said. “That’s also going to be something that’s pretty cool that’s coming up because it’s like the intersection of two clubs. The Democrats club traditionally focuses on presidential and legislative elections, things like Congress for example, but we want to incorporate the local element of that as well.”

This year, the club is evidently expanding its operations to get involved more in the real world. The club’s intention is to elevate young people’s voices in politics. 

“I think it’s super important to participate in real-world politics since we are the people who are going to be doing politics in the future,” Democrats club officer Judijoy Jeter said. “High schoolers need to get involved in things like this so that we can ensure that in the future, more young people will have a voice within politics.”

Correction: The original article stated that senior Iris Cheng had been involved in the Democrats club since her sophomore year. However, this is incorrect – Cheng has been a member of the club since she was a freshman – and the article was updated to reflect this.