New first-year student senators elected, speak on goals

Ten newly-elected first-year senators were announced at the Student Government election reveal party, where they spoke on their campaign goals. These issues ranged from campus safety to the expansion of mental health care and student-supporting resources. 

Maria Echeverry Montano, chair of the Student Government Board of Elections and a fourth-year studying political science, said this year’s first-year senate election saw a record number of student votes. This year, 24 candidates formally entered the race and 19 remained throughout. 

Alisha Khan, a first-year senator studying biology, said she was motivated to run to advocate for a safer campus.

“We got a lot of WolfAlerts the first few weeks of school, which encouraged me to run,” Khan said. “Also, whenever I walk back from the library late at night, I always feel really scared walking through the Brickyard. So I was thinking someone should do something about this. And then I decided I'd just do something about it.”

Jon Carter, a first-year senator studying accounting, said the major pillars of his campaign were reducing stigma around mental health and enhancing financial literacy resources. 

“I'm very interested in increasing financial literacy resources on campus because I know that's something that's not super available,” Carter said. “I'm working, hopefully with the treasurer, to create a financial literacy class for first-year students to take.”

Lance Williams, a first-year senator studying agricultural science, said he hopes to increase student engagement. 

“One of the biggest things I want to focus on this semester is allowing and encouraging first-year students to get more involved on campus,” Williams said. “I think Student Government absolutely has the potential to help increase the number of students getting involved in different clubs and organizations, which definitely plays into students finding a sense of belonging and mental health care on campus as well.”

Zach Eddinger, a first-year senator studying political science, said he wants to gauge student interests and make his next steps accordingly. 

“I plan to do some type of polling,” Eddinger said. “I want to do some kind of random sample polling of first-year students to figure out what we want. I’ll work from there.”

Echeverry Montano said first-year senators are vital to representing student interests.

“First-years provide a perspective in the Senate that we don't have anymore,” Echeverry Montano said. “I haven't lived in an on-campus residence hall since my sophomore year, so I can't say that I can fully speak to the issues that are affecting first-years. Having first-years in Student Government in general not only diversifies our opinions and the way that we think about issues, but it provides another perspective to issues we really need.”

Listed below are the winning candidates of the Student Senate first-year senator election.

Taquan Dewberry

Alisha Khan

Jon Carter

Nicole Tan

Julia Kalinina 

Lalith Nandula

Zach Eddinger

Delaney Urchuk

Max Furr

Lance Williams 

First-year senators will attend biweekly Student Senate meetings, which are open to the public and take place in Talley 4140 on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. More information about Senate meetings can be found on the Student Government website.