also very funny, smart and cute,
so I think that’s what sepa-
rates her from the other pets.”
Like many of the other
contestants, Berukhim shares
a connection with her pet.
“My relationship with
Belle is amazing,” she said.
“She’s watched me grow up,
so we have that special bond.”
During the voting peri-
od, pet owners worked to
increase exposure for their
pets. Berukhim said that she
campaigned for Belle by tell-
ing her family, friends and
classmates to vote for her.
Voting took place on the
Pali webstore. In an effort to
raise money for the Visual and
Performing Arts department
and an organization called Best
Friends Animal Society, ASB
charged $1 per vote and al-
lowed each voter to donate upto $10. They ended up raising
a total of $282 and will be do-
nating 20 percent of the funds
to the shelter and putting the
remainder back into the school.
“We did some research
and made sure to avoid any
shelters that had controver-
sy,” Sadaghani said. “The
Best Friends Animal Soci-
ety looked like they had a
clean slate, and we were al-
ready familiar with them, so it
seemed like the best option.”
After the competition, ASB
gave the winners personalized
gift baskets. “We asked the
owners what their pets’ favor-
ite treats are, so that we could
create a basket based on their
favorite toy or treat,” Sadaghani
said. “We wanted to give
them something they’ll enjoy.”
The winners will also have
the opportunity to post week-WITH ALL TYPES OF
PETS WELCOME IN
THE COMPETITION,
ASB RECEIVED A
WIDE VARIETY OF
APPLICATIONS FROM
OWNERS OF PETS,
RANGING FROM DOGS
TO CHAMELEONS.
TidelineTideline
ly updates on the ASB Insta-
gram, @palihighgram. The
winners declined to comment.
Before the winners were
announced, some owners
had already begun plan-
ning their Instagram take-
overs. Berukhim shared
some of her favorite ideas.
“We have lots of costumes,
so we can dress Belle up.
She’s a very fast learner, so
we can teach her tricks and
post them,” she said. “Also,
we can send some encourag-
ing words to the students.”
Even though Belle lost
the election, Berukhim plans
to continue posting updates
on Belle’s social media ac-
counts. Those interested in
supporting Belle and Berukh-
im can follow @belleisdog
on TikTok and Instagram.
Because ASB saw a highlevel of involvement from
the under-classmen like Be-
rukhim in this initiative,
Sadaghani said that they will
probably continue to hold
pet elections in future years,
with some minor alterations.
Sadaghani is hopeful that
when Pali returns to in-person
learning, ASB will add mer-
chandise and provide more
opportunities for students to
interact with the Pawliament.
Reflecting back on the
competition, Sadaghani said,
“I enjoyed looking through the
applications and seeing how
creative people were and seeing
how funny the answers were.”
Berukhim added, “This
activity was my personal fa-
vorite because the whole
idea of a Pawliament is cre-
ative and all the dog-related
words really made me laugh.”‘THIS ACTIVITY ‘THIS ACTIVITY
WAS MY PERSONAL WAS MY PERSONAL
FAVORITE’FAVORITE’