Thursday, March 31, John Cho ’23 and Jasmin Martinez ’23 clinched the Student Assembly presidential and vice presidential race, beating out Class of 2023 President Conor Sokolowsky ’23 and Bryce Earley ’23, as well as current SA Deputy Secretary for Outreach and Campaigns Mikayla Fulcher ’23. This was the first election in three years to be contested.
“I think the first thing that comes to mind is we want to thank all of our leadership team and every voter who went out and voted for us,” Martinez said. “I think coming into the school… John and I have talked about this multiple times, but as a freshman, we would never have thought this. We are just so appreciative of every single person who supported, who reposted, who talked to their friends about it. Like I think this is beyond our wildest dreams and we’re so excited to do the work that we’ve been wanting to see done at the school.”
Cho and Martinez’s campaign focused on improving outreach, transparency, campus safety, student wellness, DEI and sustainability initiatives.
“we want to thank the other candidates for all their genuine and hard work and for making us better candidates as well. I’m really excited to just move forward together as a community.”
“We also want to acknowledge that this election was difficult and challenging,” Cho said. “But we want to thank the other candidates for all their genuine and hard work and for making us better candidates as well. I’m really excited to just move forward together as a community.”
Out of the 2311 students who voted in the SA presidential contest, Cho and Martinez earned 1169 for a total of 51.15% of the vote, while Sokolowsky and Earley earned 1002 for a total of 43.85% percent. Additionally, Fulcher received 114 votes or 4.98% of the vote.
“I’m just happy,” Fulcher said. “Like the whole reason I ran was for students to kind of start thinking a little more and give more options for candidates, because in the past it’s only been one person running. So I think just having three people running just shows it’s something that students should probably care about a little bit more.”
In this year’s election, just 23.96% of the eligible voters cast their ballots in the SA presidential and vice presidential elections, down 1.89% from the 25.85% turnout in last year’s election.
Sokolowsky thanked his team for helping research and create their platform, and says he hopes the Cho-Martinez administration takes up some of their ideas and carries them forward.
“that really should be a priority of anybody in student assembly in the next years…. to get more people engaged, get more people excited about what’s happening on campus and what we can do to change campus for the better.”
“I was a little bit shocked actually at voter turnout,” Sokolowsky said. “23% was like staggeringly low. So I don’t know… I was a little bit shocked at that. And it kind of just goes to show what kind of a bubble student assembly is. And that really should be a priority of anybody in student assembly in the next years…to get more people engaged, get more people excited about what’s happening on campus and what we can do to change campus for the better.”
Class of 2023
Sen. Maheen Saeed ’23 was elected the new class of 2023 president, beating out Senate Chair Owen Williams ’23. Of the 613 students who voted, Saeed received 373 votes or 60.84% percent while Williams received 240 votes or 39.15% of the vote.
Sen. Shaunna Scott ’23 and Sen. Eugene Lee ’23 were re-elected as the class of 2023 senators, with Scott receiving 442 votes and Lee receiving 360 votes.
With only two candidates running, there are two remaining vacancies for the class of 2023 senator positions.
Class of 2024
Current Class of 2024 President Mia Tilman ’24 won an uncontested race, receiving 415 votes or 89.43% of the vote. 49 students or 10.56% chose to abstain.
In addition to class presidents, the class of 2024 student body elected four senators: Sen. Taylor Fox ’24, Sen. Gloriana Cubero Fernandez ’24, Sen. Daniel Bess ’24 and Sophia Tammera ’24.
Fox received 369 votes, Fernandez received 368 votes, Bess received 347 votes and Tammera received 340 votes.
Class of 2025
Current Class President Yannie Chang ’25 was re-elected to their position, defeating opponent Katie DiPaolo ’25.
Out of the 731 students who voted, Chang won with 616 votes, or 86.39% of the total vote, while DiPaolo fell short with 97 votes, or 13.6% of the vote.
In addition to Class President, the class of 2025 student body elected four senators: Sen. Sean Nguyen ’25, Sen. Hashir Aqeel ’25, Sen. Regina Chaillo ’25, and Sen. Matthew Hwang ’25, leaving the class of 2025 with the same representatives for two consecutive years.
Nguyen received 528 votes, Aqeel received 472 votes, Chaillo received 468, and Hwang received 452 votes.
Meanwhile Shaia McClung ’25 fell short with 316 votes, as did Momen Zahid ’25 who received 199 votes.
Correction (3/31): The class of 2025 senate race graph had Matthew Hwang ’25’s name mispelled as “Hwnang.” The graph was corrected and re-uploaded with the correct spelling.