SGA Election Results: Ava Caudle ‘25 Named as President, Barnyard Secedes

By Savannah Brooks ’26

Managing Editor

On Friday, April 26, current Student Government Association (SGA) President Jake McPhail ’24 announced the final SGA election results for the 2024-25 academic year. Only three results were announced on Friday, as the five other elections had gone uncontested and one election had received no candidates.

Ava Caudle ‘25 ran uncontested to win SGA President. In an email to the Tripod, Caudle said that she plans to focus on student’s “input, positive and negative” as well as “transparency in our decision-making, a platform for your new ideas and inclusivity to cultivate a more united, welcoming community of students.” Additionally, she noted that she “will also continue building upon the procedural foundation and documents revived by” McPhail. Halanda Nguyen ‘26, who won a no contest election for Executive Vice President, shared that she is looking to “support [Caudle’s] goals” and “continue building a stronger relationship with our campus’s administration along with finding more ways for SGA to interact with the student body.” Antonia Kambolis ‘26, who won Class of 2026 President with no opponents, shared Nguyen’s sentiment, noting that her main goal is to “increase transparency between the administration and students while advocating for what our class wants and needs to see on campus.”

Arrington Mims ‘26, also a no contest victor, told the Tripod that, as Vice President of Finance, she “hope[s] to provide each SGA-approved organization on campus with the resources they need to be great.” The final uncontested victor, Momo Djebli ‘25, will serve as the Vice President of the Multicultural Affairs Council (MAC). Djebli aims to “build a legacy of inclusion and representation while giving MAC organizations the opportunities to voice their concerns regarding support mechanisms that would best help them in achieving their vision for the 2024-2025 school year.” They also “hope to continue [their] work of building a community where we commit to our promise of diversity and inclusion by extending equal opportunities for all of our students regardless of their gender identity, class status, and cultural or religious background.”

Jimmy Balboni ‘27 beat one opponent to become the new class of 2027 president, receiving over 54% of the vote. More than 150 members of the class of 2027 voted in the election. Balboni told the Tripod that he “promise[s] to make real change by creating jobs and pushing back the pass/fail declaration deadline to help with [students’] mental and emotional health.” Notably, far fewer members of the class of 2025 voted in their election for president, with Dylan Idleman ‘25 winning an overwhelming 70% of the vote (under 90 students). Idleman did not provide a comment for the Tripod.

Manuela Rodés ‘26 won 67% of 180 votes to win the position of Vice President of Communications. In a statement to the Tripod, Rodés also stated that she aimed to “keep transparency between the SGA and the student body.” 

The position of Vice President of the Entertainment Activities Board (better known as EAC or Barnyard to the student body) received no applications and therefore is left unfulfilled. However, Barnyard announced on their Instagram that Riley Brown ‘25 and Maggie Farrell ‘25 will be serving as co-presidents for the upcoming academic year. In the same Instagram post, the club announced that they voted 15-4 to secede from the SGA and become an “independent organization.” Barnyard’s constitution states that their president must be “elected by the student body at large via the yearly general Student Government Association elections.” Dean Trevor Beauford, who resigned from his position last semester, is still listed as Barnyard advisor on Bantamlink. 

In an email to the Tripod, current Barnyard President Sarah Bello ‘24 said that the club was “quite honestly baffled as to why [the position] was conveyed as an open office in the student wide email,” referring to the email McPhail sent on April 14 identifying the SGA positions open for election. Bello noted that the position of Barnyard President has not been elected by the student body as a whole in her four years at Trinity. “I hope that moving forward SGA is more communicative prior to acting on behalf of organizations, as to avoid miscommunications such as these,” she told the Tripod. “As an event organizing group, having relationships with your group members, vendors and advisors, as well as having a shown commitment in the group is absolutely crucial before assuming the title of president. It is for this reason that we feel holding elections internally, among students who have existing knowledge regarding the contributions of potential candidates, will yield superior results for the function of the organization.”

Barnyard leadership will meet with the SGA executive team next week, according to McPhail. In response to Barnyard’s internal elections, McPhail told the Tripod that “it is difficult to understand why they would not want to follow their own constitution and, as they indicated, operate as an ‘independent organization’ next year when their current structure is essential for their funding. Getting SAF funding requires a group to be a part of SGA, or be SGA approved as a student organization. Additionally, even if they applied for SGA recognition, there is a limit of $250 for all new student organizations for one year after they are approved. As it stands now, they are not eligible to receive any funding for the next academic year.” Barnyard’s current structure outlined in the SGA’s constitution is due to their substantial budget of over $100k. 

When asked about the transition of SGA leadership, McPhail is confident in the new team. “I cannot overstate just how transformative my time as student body president was for me,” he said. “Looking to next year’s SGA, I am confident that me and my outstanding team of student leaders have set them up for success.”