Sylvia Kline ‘28
The Student Senate at SLC held its annual elections for the 2024-2025 school year on Sept. 19 and 20; with students from all years, backgrounds and ambitions elected to hold offices and represent the study body.
Student Senate is the primary student government on campus and is composed of several committees that work to connect with administration, staff and the community to effect change and objectively represent the collective student body.
The elected first-year class president is Yliane Cabrera Cano, who launched her campaign on Instagram. After receiving advice from the heads of the Student Senate and sophomore class president May Chopra, Cano stated “I’m incredibly grateful for all the support I received from our community, both online and in person.”
Cano intends to bring her ambitions and dedication to the community to her new role, “I plan to organize a range of events like tea nights, sustainable bonfires, potlucks, and cultural celebrations,” she says. “I also want to collaborate closely with the sustainability committee, as many students have raised concerns about plastic use and food waste in our dining halls.”
An international student originally from Spain, Cano is making it her priority to make “everyone feel like they truly belong here.”
The Student Sustainability senator is Nora Tucker-Kellogg ‘28. The elected General Committee representatives include Zen Nguyen ‘25 and Juliet DeLap ‘27. The Student Activities Subcommittee representatives are Zainab Aziz ‘26 and Viraja Gurrapu ‘27. The Students Scholarship Fund Chair is Nia Stiggers ‘27, and the Committee on Undergraduate Student Work Representative is Fjolla Bajrami ‘25. The Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) Representative is Sydney Atherley ‘27.
The Executive Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Committee Representative is
Manahil Rashid Awan ‘28, and the DEIB Committee Representative is Faith-Marie McHenry ‘25.
Awan is motivated to create real action within the SLC community, stating, “Positions like DEIB are so crucial and I wanted to run to ensure that meaning wasn’t hidden under some kind of performance.”
“My main hope is that the SLC community knows that they can come to me for any concern,” Awan said.
Looking at the community as a whole, the elected Transfer Student-at-Large representative is Camila Carbone ‘26, and the New Student-at-Large representative is Lamija Hakalović ‘28.
The Admissions Committee representatives include Nicole Imral ‘27 and Abby Borkowski ‘28, and the elected Curriculum Committee Representative is Mira Franzen ‘25.
Lastly, the new Student Life representatives are Fiona Edmonds ‘27 and Emma Moorhead ‘25.
Edmonds is motivated to aid students' complaints, “I would like to do something about them rather than let them sit and just kind of fester.” She is coming into her new position with “a general push toward a better campus environment,” wanting students to “help one another, be kinder and slow down the rumor mill.”
There are still several open positions on the Student Senate, including the Curriculum Committee Representative, the Committee on Undergraduate Student Work Representative and the Students for Students Scholarship Fund (SSSF) Representative.
Student Senate meets every Tuesday from 6-7:30 p.m. and their meetings are open to all students.