VICTOR SCHMITT-BUSH
Assistant News Editor
With the largest incoming freshman class in Fredonia’s history, the Student Association’s Fall 2018 representative elections have given rise to a new and expanding line of student governance. SA is proud to announce its new representatives.
“I’m very excited for the changes that we’re going to see in SA this year,” said SA Vice President, Hannah Apthorpe, who was elected last Fall alongside SA President Connor Aitcheson. “At first we had only a couple freshman and sophomore class representatives on the ballot, but more have been written in.”
Among those elected include the new freshman class president, Jimmy Kinney, along with nine freshman class representatives who will be challenged with reflecting the interests of such a large incoming class.
“I hope to turn the entire freshman class into one big family,” said Kinney. “I want to use my time as president to inspire my fellow students and help them connect with each other on a whole new level.”
During the second general assembly meeting for SA this past Thursday, Kinney chose to join the Student Relations Committee at Fredonia. As the newly appointed Social Media and Public Relations Chair on the Executive Board of Chautauqua Hall, Kinney decided that choosing the Student Relations Committee would suit him best.
“By holding both positions, I am able to connect with the students of our class to hear their ideas and concerns and fight for their beliefs,” he said.
Lylens F. Lubin, the sophomore class president, ran a somewhat similar campaign. Elected along with five class representatives, Lubin chose to join the Rules Committee so that he could have a direct impact on the changes being made at Fredonia.
“I have taken time to hear about the many challenges we sophomores face in our day-to-day lives as students,” said Lubin. “I can assure everyone that I will do my best to represent the voice of our class campus wide.”
Lubin guarantees that if students and staff reach out to him, no problem presented to him will go unresolved.
To create a more diverse and welcoming campus atmosphere, he and sophomore class representative Zachary Povall will be working together this year.
“As a member of the Rules Committee,” said Povall, “one of my favorite things to do with the Student Association is to work with all the clubs on campus, working to create a lot of diverse groups of people and types of activities on this campus.”
The junior class president this semester will be Christian Rodriguez, who will serve along with three junior class representatives.
“I ran with the slogan ‘united for a better future’ because I really think that together we can achieve anything,” said Rodriguez.
To accurately represent his class, Rodriguez made a concerted effort to listen closely to the needs and wants of many faculty and students on campus. The focus of his campaign is a triad of issues that he believes students and staff at Fredonia care about the most.
“My first commitment is going to be to diversity,” he said. “Our second commitment is going to be to [stopping] sexual assault, and our third commitment is going to be to the budget.”
Rodriguez believes that becoming the junior class president is a great honor, but he also sees this as an opportunity to get everyone to work together and to make changes happen.
“I see it as something that we all won together,” he said. “There are still a lot of people that feel like they have been left out of the conversation. I want those people to come back to the conversation, and I want them to feel like they are being listened to.”
Leading the senior class will be Katherine Hanover, along with 11 class representatives.
“I’m so excited to represent the class of 2019 and have lots of ideas for this upcoming school year,” said Hanover. “I am open to any and all suggestions from my fellow classmates and want everyone to feel included and welcome to speak with me whenever they wish.”
Hanover has made it her duty this semester to come up with new ways to get everyone involved and to raise money for the senior class. She considers herself to be hard working, determined and a go-getter.
“I will see each task through to the end and push myself to achieve great success,” she said. “I am persistent in my efforts of making things happen and will demonstrate all of these traits when working for the senior class this upcoming year.”
As far as the new Speaker of the Assembly goes, both SA President Connor Aitcheson and Apthorpe have expressed nothing but confidence in his abilities.
“Seth Meyer is our new speaker,” said Apthorpe. “He is doing really well at his job. He’s doing better than I presumed a second year student could do.”
Perhaps what really encourages SA members to keep their heads high is that Fredonia’s student governance doesn’t just start with the elections and end with them, too. It is an ongoing process.
“This isn’t the end of the new representatives,” said Apthorpe. “There will be people who sign up halfway through the semester when they hear about it. People do that all of the time.”
Apthorpe is excited to see how everything will fall into place as the semester moves forward, but with SA, there is always continuity because of how organized the process is.
“We have the same positions over the semesters and year after year.” she said. “As far as seeing new faces and making new friends and getting a new vibe in SA, I’m very excited for it. New people bring new ideas, new experiences and new perspectives. I’m looking forward to working with them all!”