Graphic: Megan Lu/The Olaf Messenger
The 2023-24 Student Government Association (SGA) Senators Election went through several changes bringing in a higher number of candidates and voters. The ballot was composed of 29 senate candidates. These candidates were running for the Senator positions which include three class-year Senators for first-years, three for all over years, as well as senators for International Students, Gender and Sexuality, Student Life, Multicultural Students, Curriculum, Environmental, Interfaith, and Disability and Access. This year, the election had the most Senate candidates within the last decade.
To ensure a successful election season, SGA President Sophia Pletcher and Vice President Chau Truong took further initiative in the process. “We were extremely thoughtful about how we approached elections this year,” said Truong in an email to The Olaf Messenger, “We were very active with outreach, sending out a lot of emails and did a lot of promotion at the Co-Curricular fair.” To ensure a high voting rate, SGA incentivized students with “I Voted” stickers, set up a polling station in Buntrock Commons on the last voting day, and held a two-hour candidate tabling event prior to the election with more than 100 attendees with prizes from local businesses.
Alongside active promotion, the candidate application process was made easier for students by creating two application dates. This application process was successful as the later date brought in 22 candidates compared to the eight on the earlier date.
All of SGA’s voting strategies brought in a large number of voters with about 33 percent of the student body participating in this year’s elections compared to the 18 percent in the 2022-23 SGA Presidential Election.
2023-24 Student Senate
First-Year Class Representatives: Dania Elshafie (’27), Declan Mears (’27), and Ankur Guragain (’27)
Sophomore Class Representatives: Andrew Baker (’26) and Anna Grace (’26)
Junior Class Representatives: Rachel Williams (’25) and Donovan Roddy (’25)
Senior Class Representatives: Emelyce Bigirimana (’24) and Cameron Hubbard (’24)
International Student Senator: Kaashya Khandelwal (’25)
Multicultural Student Senator: Karen Henriquez Fajardo (’26)
Student Life Senator: Zaria Irving (’25)
Disability and Access Senator: Abby Engbrecht (’24)
Environmental Student Senator: Laura Mongui (’24)
Gender and Sexuality Senator:
Fiona Mundy (’26)
Interfaith Senator: Ed Nazaryan (’26)
Kenzie Nguyen is a junior English major with a concentration in International Relations from Brooklyn Park, Minn.. When not in the office, Kenzie enjoys walking around town, exploring Content Bookstore, watching reality tv and movies, and chatting with her friends. She dreams about owning her own little breakfast and coffee nook. In the future, Kenzie hopes to be a news and politics reporter.