president next year. Courtesy | Jacob Hooper
Nearly 200 juniors gathered in the Searle Center Monday evening to dine, hear remarks from faculty and fellow students, and find out who won the highly-anticipated senior officer elections.
Jacob Hooper was elected president, Maya Kaniaupio vice president, Penny Heipel secretary, Emma-Sofia Mull treasurer, and Chloe Kersey social chair.
“I am truly honored that my class chose me among a field of three other excellent candidates to lead the class board as we plan graduation,” Hooper said. “I’m confident I can lead the class board in organizing graduation and finding a superb speaker everyone will enjoy.”
Kaniaupio said she was excited to find out she won because “there were so many wonderful and qualified people running in every position.”
“I am looking forward to working with the class officers who have been elected to serve the senior class this coming school year,” she said.
Heipel agreed, saying it is her hope “to continue to grow in learning and service to my college through this opportunity.”
Along with the officers, the new members of the Legacy Board were announced. This board is tasked with determining the senior class gift, among other things.
The board will consist of eight members: Brennan Nokleby, Andrew Szwec, Jaime Boerma, Nolan Sullivan, John Biscarro, Emma Shea, Brandt Siegfried, and Reagan Linde.
But before the results were revealed, juniors heard from Professor and Chairman of History Mark Kalthoff.
A Hillsdale College graduate himself, Kalthoff gave advice to the rising class, namely, to be “fully in the arena,” a popular saying from President Theodore Roosevelt.
“Roosevelt’s challenge is also mine to you. Let your legacy be that you were actually still fully ‘in the arena.’ Don’t coast in your senior year. Make the very most of it. Live large,” Kalthoff said.
Current senior class president Braden VanDyke also spoke at the event—one that he and the class of 2021 did not get last year due to the pandemic.
He said the annual dinner, a new tradition, is “of unique import” because it gives soon-to-be seniors the space to “step back and appreciate Hillsdale in a different, yet deeper way.”
VanDyke said he is confident in juniors’ ability to make the coming two semesters “the best year yet.”
“With the Junior Legacy Dinner behind them and an abundance of time before them, the juniors have all the advantages to make their senior year the best year yet,” VanDyke said. “And between the newly elected senior class officers, the newly appointed legacy board, and the individuals that make up their class, I am fully confident they will do just that.”
The event was organized by Fiona Shea, assistant director of student and young alumni programs and staff advisor to the 1844 Society, and Hadiah Ritchey, Career Services project manager and advisor to the senior class officers.
Shea said the event is intended to prepare juniors to reflect on their legacy at the college both as individuals and as a class.
“It is lovely to be able to bring a class together, especially when they are united under a common goal,” Shea said.
