SGA Holds Class of 2020 Elections

Shawn Olstein ’22
Staff Writer

Last Tuesday, Feb. 5, the Student Government Association (SGA) held elections for the junior class.  There were four senate seats open to juniors who sought a position in Trinity’s SGA. Larisa Bogomolov, Erick Peña, Hunter Savery, and Federica Cristofanilli were elected to the vacant class senator positions. Special elections held for class senate positions have not been held in recent history and SGA has not found itself in a position like this for many years.

According to SGA President Kristina Miele ’19,  representation for the class was limited to just the junior class president. In a comment to the Tripod, Miele said “due to the fact that we should have equal representation of all grades on SGA, we decided to hold a special election for the junior class.” In the future, Miele has stated that SGA intends to “make sure that all juniors who run for a position in future elections must have a running mate to takeover in the semester if they plan to go abroad.”

The newly elected senators reported a wide variety of plans they wanted to put into action as a part of the SGA.  Many of these focused on being accessible to students as a leader and listening to student voices, as well as creating a more inclusive environment.  Newly elected senator Cristofanilli stated, “I want to get to know all the representatives and understand what SGA has worked on, what they are currently working on, and their future plans. I feel as if once I get this understanding of where the group stands as a whole, then I can start to see where our goals and plans for SGA overlap. My plan is to help push our campus to be an active, inclusive, and diverse environment that genuinely cares about the academic, social, environmental well-being of our campus.”  The new junior senators also reported that they intend to accomplish their stated goals by working with fellow representatives on the SGA as well as listening and responding to feedback from the Trinity community. Beyond accomplishing their goals, the new Senators reported that they felt it would be easy to work with the other class senators as they all shared the common goal of representing the class and creating positive change. Cristofanilli stated, “We are a batch of new faces so I think we will all be able to contribute strongly in our own ways to SGA. I’m excited to see what we will all be able to accomplish individually and as a whole this semester.”  Despite starting halfway through the year, the new junior senators are coming into their positions with goals in mind and ways to accomplish them in the immediete future.