MARSHA COHEN
Special to The Leader
Every year a group of ambitious and motivated SUNY Fredonia students aim to become the voice for their respective class. They rely on their peers’ trust and word that they will vote for them, and, in return, they will be the best representatives they can be.
On Sept. 17 and 18, SUNY Fredonia’s Student Association held their annual class elections. Every class, ranging from freshman to seniors, were able to elect their class president and class representatives for the 2013-14 school year. The winners were announced Wednesday night and were sworn in at Thursday’s GA meeting.
Poll results showed an extremely low turn-out. With an estimated 86 senior, 52 junior, 43 sophomore and 22 freshman votes counted, an exceedingly low percentage of students voiced their opinion in this year’s elections.
The winning delegates were a mix of new and familiar faces. They ranged from Jefferson Dedrick, the newly elected freshman class president to a very familiar face, Anthony Mercedes, who was elected junior class president. Patrick Kennedy claimed the senior class president title, and Maguette Ndiaye was elected president of the sophomore class.
Twenty-three class representatives were elected between the freshmen through seniors, and senior Justin Shanley was chosen as the SUNY SA Voting Delegate over senior Alexander Stone.
Mercedes has been the class of 2015’s president since his sophomore year. His “unity” continues to be the centered theme for the upcoming school year.
“Just like last year I plan on continuing my ‘unity’ theme. I genuinely want to see our class grow strong, and I feel like, since we are almost seniors, we can start something that the other classes want to follow,” said Mercedes.
While the theme is very near and dear to his heart, he was not shy about expressing what the leadership title meant to him on a personal level.
“I like having a leadership position, but it’s more about how I can implement something that I care about. I’m not just going to come up with an idea and expect everyone to go along with it. I want to implement an idea that everyone else can care about too,” said Mercedes.
Mercedes wasn’t the only winner who shared his vision for his respective class. Newly-elected senior class President Kennedy shared his goal on what he wants the class of 2014 to be remembered by.
“As for a theme, I hope it will be to lead by example. As seniors, many of us have our eyes on graduating and moving on with our adult lives. But I believe it is our duty to leave this campus in good hands and continue to raise the bar, just like every senior class has been doing,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy realizes that he represents the class of 2014 and wants to make it known that this is a team effort—not just a one man show.
“Personally, I want to be remembered as a leader and a team player. You hear professors talk about former students that stood out, and I think a lot of us want to be that student down the road. But I also want to be remembered as a team player,” said Kennedy. “While
Senior Class President does entail a lot of responsibility as a leader, I know it’s going to be a combined effort of the entire senior class to leave a mark on Fredonia.”