In February, I decided to caucus for Mountain Region’s Regional Aleph Gizbor. This was a tough decision for me because I knew that running as a freshman would be challenging, as most people who are on Regional Board are rising juniors or seniors. Despite this, with the advice of my advisors and family, I called our Regional President and caucused. Over the next two months up until Conclave, our spring convention, I developed my platform and speech. I focused on scholarships, having regional fundraisers, and creating better-than-ever merch. My platform was professional and honestly, going into elections, I felt confident. I knew if elected it would be a lot of work for me but I was sure that with my work on a chapter and regional level, I would adapt to a regional board position. The hardest part for me was not telling anyone I was running. I really wanted to tell my friends I was running before Conclave but I knew that if I was caught politicking, my candidacy would be revoked. Anyways, once I arrived in Northern Arizona I knew that I should focus on having fun and try not to worry about elections coming up just two days later. But once my alarm woke me up at 6:00 AM that morning, I knew it was time to focus on elections. I got dressed and I quickly found out who was running by who was dressed up nicely. Most were either Godol of their chapter or on regional boards in the past which was definitely a bad sign for me since I’ve only been Shaliach and Gizbor of my chapter. Albeit I’ve introduced legislation regionally so I figured there was a chance. Next, we had breakfast and all of the candidates had to sit down at one table to prevent politicking. The environment was tense, at least for me, because I knew that we’d be running against each other in a couple of hours. In total, there were 10 people caucused for a 6-person board. Gizbor was the last election so I wondered if there would be any slide-downs or nominations. All of the Alephs there took a seat and we started voting. I focused on the other elections taking place instead of worrying about mine. My election came and on the third gavel rap, I realized that I was running against a former Godol of a chapter down in Tucson, a rising senior. I knew my odds were slim but I was the first to give my speech and distribute my platform. In my opinion, I rocked my speech and answered the candidate questions completely. Despite my inherent disadvantages, I felt confident because of how well I did telling my plan. But once the votes were tallied I stood up on the stage and I lost. The 24 hours after the election were rough, but since then I've come to realize that the people we are running against are not our opponents and we all have the same common goal in mind. Our 77th Term Regional Gizbor will do an amazing job and I am incredibly optimistic for the future of our region and the order in all. There are many opportunities in BBYO. From the chapter level, to RLN and ILN, and even writing for the Shofar, you can always make a difference in our organization. So if you are thinking about running for regional board, do it. Don’t worry about qualifications because I’ve seen people win Godol and S’gan on a chapter level without being on board before. If you think you are the best person for the position caucus because all in all, you have nothing to lose. We all only have 5 years maximum in BBYO so make the most of them.