Student Federation announced their new executive officers and independent representatives this week, after counting ballots from the campus-wide election.
Officers hold their positions from January through December, and collaboratively decide where to allocate the $92,000 budget granted by the administration.
Junior David Wilhelmsen was elected Student Fed president, junior Daniel Teal vice president, senior Chelsea Goodale treasurer, and junior Mackenzie Price secretary.
“My strategy on winning was to run unopposed,” Wilhelmsen said. “I wasn’t sure how it would pan out but, in the end, it pulled through for me.”
For the freshman representatives, Jordan Finney and Lucia Rothhaas were elected; for the sophomores, Casey Harper and Sam Ryskamp; for the juniors, Garrett Holt and Viktor Rozsa; for the independents at large, sophomore Arielle Mueller, junior Casey McKee, and freshman Marie Wathen.
Competition this year was low. All of the executive officers ran uncontested, and many nominees campaigned little or none.
“I assumed people would vote for me based on what they know about me, and I didn’t feel it was necessary to campaign,” Finney said.
Price said she did no campaigning at all, and Rothhaas said she campaigned by sending a text out to a few friends to vote for her at lunch.
Ryskamp said he turned in his form an hour before it was due, after his roommate, Harper, convinced him. He said he is glad he did.
“I just don’t think it can get much better than this,” Ryskamp said. “My life will probably go downhill from here.”
The reason competition was low, senior and current Student Fed President Esther Ashmore said, was that many people who would have been nominated studied abroad, did WHIP, or entered a Greek house, removing them from the pool of possible nominees for independent slots.
“There weren’t a lot of people who met the requirements,” she said.
Last year, this only happened with the president’s nomination. Ashmore said she was the only one nominated for her current position, but the other slots had more competition.
She said the new group is a good mix of new and enthusiastic and older and experienced, and expressed satisfaction in how well they would not only get along but also represent campus.
“It’s always exciting to have new people, and every year I’ve been really impressed with who the students pick,” Ashmore said. “I think it’s a good rep of each class.”
At the last Student Fed meeting of the semester, Ashmore will swear Wilhelmsen into office, and at the first meeting in January, Wilhelmsen will swear in all the new members.
“I will officially hand over the gavel to David,” Ashmore said. “It’s really fun. We get to actually use a gavel.”
Wilhelmsen said he sees the job of managing student monies as “crucially important,” and that he strives to be a good steward.
“I hope that, when our term is over, we can look back and say with certainty that we left this school better off than we found it,” he said.
