By Siobhan Murray

Writer

The results of the Bucknell Student Government Election are in. Voter turnout far exceeded that of the past several years and generated a group of elected students whose goals for student government focus on fundraising, class unity and visibility.

A total of 1,361 students turned out for elections, including 439 in the class of 2013, 357 in the class of 2014 and 565 in the class of 2015. The turnout may reflect BSG’s new strategy of emailing students to remind them to vote, rather than posting a reminder on the myBucknell webpage.

“I feel the new method of emailing students was more effective than the previous method. The overall turnout shows that students are concerned about having their voices heard and are exercising their democratic obligations,” President of BSG Executive Board Dotun Odewale said.

The elected class of 2013 president is Katie Golub, vice-president is Teddy Mottola and secretary/treasurer is Kenzie Raymond. The representatives for the upcoming senior class are Tim Bergen, Jennie Ciotti, Jesse Dondero, Jessica Gettel, Kamran Khan, Robert Kurtz, Sviatoslav Lesko, Rachel Litt and Mahilet Oluma.

“We will decide on a Senior Class Gift to donate to the University, as well as give the University recommendations on a Commencement speaker for our graduation. In addition, we will organize several ‘Senior Nights,’ which are fun events that serve as a great way to promote class unity,” Golub said.

Secretary/treasurer Raymond added that the “class congress has spent the last three years fundraising [for these goals].”

For the class of 2014, voters decided on Jeffery Finegan for president, Rachel Franz for vice-president and Julia Smith for Secretary/Treasurer. Kelsea Alderman, Daniel Bonilla, Kunga Dagpo, Ken Inoue, Ally Kebba, Maura McVeigh, Olesya Minina, Daniel Narvaez, Kyle Sullivan, Sophie Van Pelt and alternate Tyler Mclamb will make up the board of representatives.

“I plan on increasing the transparency of BSG and making it more effective in terms of being a voice of the student body,” Finegan said.

The class of 2015 elected Colin Hassell as president, Jen Lassen as vice-president and Will Persing as secretary/treasurer. Representatives for the class are Walker Brady, Chloe Drennen, Julia Goldman, Gloria Lee, Jared Lowenthal, Kevin Miller, CJ Moy, Carson Quigley, Michael Sahagian, Whitney Tatem and alternates Ben Garner and Kenia Lobo.

Hassell emphasizes the importance of fundraising for future senior year events.

“Our Class Congress is currently brainstorming ideas for a product, which we hope will be on sale by the early fall,” Hassell said.

The Congress also seeks to hold more class unity events such as another S’mores Night or class BBQs. “As far as visibility goes, I plan to continue to send out our class newsletter, the B15ON BRIEF,” Hassell said.

“I would like to increase student participation and interest in student government in order for students to have a stronger voice on campus,” Persing said.

“Many of the positions were uncontested, meaning that there was far fewer campaigning this year because there was less of a threat of people losing. There were also some very close races where a few candidate won by only a few votes which illustrates how important it is for students to vote and voice their opinions,” Vice-president of Administration of BSG Executive Board Clinton Kittrell said.