On Nov. 20, the Bucknell Student Government (BSG) Executive Board election results were announced by BSG President Alex Rosen ’16 via email to the student body. Mark Merino ’17 was elected BSG President, alongside Nigel Ravida ’18 as Vice President of Operations, and Meghan Belinsky ’18 as Vice President of Administration.

No stranger to BSG, Merino previously served as a representative for the Class of 2017 during his first year. He was elected Vice President of his class and served as Chair of Public Affairs during his sophomore year. Outside of BSG, Merino is a Posse Scholar from Los Angeles, an RA, and a member of Bicycles Against Poverty. Merino will be responsible for overseeing BSG Congress and communicating between the University’s administration and the student body.

“I think the student body can trust me as the new president,” Merino said. “I don’t see this as the pinnacle or the top-spot. I look at this position as a ‘facilitate-first’ position and I intend to get as much as I can done while making sure that every student, whether in BSG or the student body at large, feels like they were given a chance to speak and be listened to, to me that’s the key … I love what BSG can be and I’m very excited to work with the entirety of Congress to make it something that all students feel represented by.”

Also no stranger to student government, Ravida served as a Class of 2018 senator his first year and was elected Class of 2018 President this fall. Ravida is on the executive board for the Pre-Health Society.

Ravida will be responsible for BSG’s operational aspects. These include overseeing elections and other voting procedures, as well as chairing BSG’s Organization Review Board (ORB), which is responsible for working with student organizations who wish to be BSG recognized and helping sustain the ones who already are.

“I take pride in being a leader along with helping to improve our campus and this role in BSG seems like the perfect fit for me to accomplish both things,” Ravida said. “The previous executive board did an amazing job by creating groundbreaking events to engage and unify the student body; in this position, I hope to take the next step with those events to further change the negative aspects of our campus climate and unify our student body.”

Belinsky is new to BSG, but she is no stranger to campus involvement. She currently serves as the President of the Ubuntu Club. The club fundraises money for the Ubuntu Education Fund, where the money is then provided to underprivileged and orphaned children in the townships around Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Belinsky has worked with the Social Justice Residential College and a number of other student organizations to organize and execute the Spotlight on Human Rights earlier this semester. She is also a Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) study group facilitator, a member of the ’Nell Party, ATHENA, and active in Greek life. 

“I [want] to be aware of and involved in all the incredible events that are happening on campus … [T]here are so many opportunities on campus to get involved in, and I want to be able to help in any way that I can because Bucknell students work so hard to put together incredible events,” Belinsky said. “I look forward to making sure that the student body and their interests are well represented, and I’m really excited to work with the administrative side of Bucknell and see the inner workings of how things get done.”