Chapter 74 The Selection Process (1/2)
”YOU?!” Beatrice nearly shouted. Sam simply looked at her without any reaction and she was embarrassed over her outburst. Clearing her throat, she apologized, ”I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout. I was just surprised.”
However, when thinking about it, she shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, Sam had skipped a grade in primary school and was actually a year younger than Kyle. Added to that, she always saw him reading advance books on programming and robotics, which meant that his intelligence was far higher than most people. He also fits into her pre-conceived mentality of what a smart person should look like.
So just why was she surprised to find out that he scored the same as her? That was something that she found puzzling once she thought about it. Why hadn't she considered it before?
”Why else do you think he even offered to help you choose?” Kyle asked, ”That boy would never do anything that he didn't need to.”
Sam nodded as he took a box and opened it.
Kay placed a shredder next to him and he thanked her, then plugged it in.
”It's quite simple. First filter - they need to be in the top 50 in school. Student Council duties are not easy and we need smart people who can balance studies and club duties.”
”Second: applications by third and fourth years require experience. If they have never had any sort of experience in the area they are applying for, then reject them. What makes them think the Student Council is a place to train them? So those that apply for the Treasurer's position must have taken accounting as a subject in class while the Secretary position requires one who has been a manager for any club activities.”
”Applications by second years is a bit tricky. They would not have taken accounting yet as that is a third year subject in the non-science stream and being managers at the second year is a bit stretching it. Though it is possible. So we need to widen the net. Their maths scores must be high to be in the Treasurer's position while English is the benchmark for being a secretary. Jotting down notes and so forth can be taught.”
”As for applications by first years? Haish. That is the toughest. Only those that were in the top 20 of the last mid-term will be looked at, with the scores in Maths and English being As.”
”So stringent? What if there are no candidates left?” asked Beatrice.
”We'll cross that bridge if it comes to that,” said Kyle.
Beatrice looked at the shredder, ”So should we not shred the rejects just in case?”
”No,” Kyle said firmly, ”If they don't meet the minimum criteria, there is no point looking at their applications again. It's only two positions out of three boxes of applications. It can't be THAT bad, can it?”
**Several hours later**
”Oh. Apparently, it can be that bad,” Kyle mused as he looked at the lone piece of paper that was left.
”I TOLD you that we shouldn't have shredded the rejects,” Beatrice said, quietly enjoying Kyle's predicament.
Kyle sighed and leaned back on the chair, tilted his head and closed his eyes. He had actually flipped through all of the applications before handing it over to Beatrice but he didn't process them as yet. He ignored the first and second-year applications and only focused on the third and fourth years.
It was going to be tedious and he had hoped that Beatrice and Sam would have been able to find better candidates based on the initial screening. This time, he merely focused on high scores for Maths and some sort of basic club duties. Picking those out and then picking the top 9 wasn't easy. It's just that he really didn't think the results would have been so dismal. His own fault for being so over-confident.
”Francis, please jot down these names and call them for an interview,” Kyle called out. Francis acknowledged it and Kyle began prattling about 10 names, which also included the name on that lone piece of paper Beatrice had given.
Beatrice was about to say something when she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. She turned and gulped when she saw Sam's face is quite close to her. She just noticed how long his eyelashes were and how smooth his skin was and despite his young age, he was actually the same height as her. She had to keep reminding herself that he was only 12 years old and she severely chastised herself for getting so affected by such a young kid.