SGA senators announced for 2022-2023 school year

Lexi Holdiness

MSMS”s Student Government Association senators discuss topics relevant to the student body [Sept. 13] in Hooper Auditorium. SGA meets at 6 p.m. every Tuesday.

Iris Xue, Staff Writer
September 27, 2022

MSMS students chose 28 Student Government Association representatives for the current school year through floor-specific elections in Goen and Frazer halls on Sept. 5 and 6.

SGA’s goal is to amplify student voices and concerns to MSMS administration through legislation at weekly meetings. Each year, students elect two juniors and two seniors to represent their respective classes on each floor of the dorms. Candidate delivered short speeches to potential voters before online voting windows opened.

Though some candidates campaigned early on, others depended on their speeches to win over voters on Election Night.

“I told my friends that I was running, but I didn’t really make an announcement to my floor,” Maryann Dang, a junior senator-elect from Goen Hall, said. “Most people didn’t know that I was running until I made my speech.”

Another junior senator-elect, Angel Viveros, did not campaign “because I didn’t want it to be a popularity contest.”

Along with juniors seeking Senate seats for the first time, seniors also were up for re-election. Most returning senior senators said they wanted to continue advocating for policies SGA did not pass last year and incorporate new policy ideas into the handbook.

While many candidates faced election challengers, many, including junior Ava Noe, automatically won after running unopposed.

“[That] made my campaign very easy,” Noe said. “I didn’t have to put too much effort into it.”

On the other hand, Viveros said there was more competition on his floor and he tried to make his speech more genuine for his classmates.

Most candidates mentioned policy ideas in their Election Night speeches. The most prevalent concerns included dorm-level violations, mental health and the school’s dress code.

Beyond these common concerns, Dang said she hopes to implement 24-hour printing in computer labs and create food cabinets, which would be “kind of like the Plus Care closet, but more for food specifically.”

“If people couldn’t make it to lunch or dinner … and they don’t have anything in their dorm and still wanted to eat something, the food cabinet could help,” she said.

Viveros said he hopes to add recycling bins to each dorm floor.

“There’s a general lack of recycling, and even when there are recycling bins, they’re in inconvenient spaces,” Viveros said. “Adding them to [more floors on Frazer] would be an improvement to the community.”

Though SGA’s specific improvements to the MSMS community this year are yet to be decided, all senators are hopeful for a great year.

Viveros said, “[We] have a chance to make the student body’s lives as beneficial as possible, and I’m glad to be a part of that.”

SGA President Christina Zhang said she is excited for student government this year “because I know that everyone who ran is passionate about school policy reform and making our school a better place.”

“Returning senators from last year will be a great example for new senators, and I know the new senators will do a great job as well,” she said. “I’m thrilled to see what we can do this year.”

MSMS SGA senators for the 2022-2023 academic year include:

Second floor, Frazer Hall