Last Monday the freshman class elected their new Student Government representatives.
The freshman class chose Merrill Anovick as their president, as well as Kevin Barry, Hyun-Sik Choi, Minerva Kim, Andrew Ritchey, Michael St. Germain, and Gauri Wagle as new student government senators.
According to Student Government Association (SGA) president Mark Dirzulaitis, the freshmen class elections ran smoothly this year with no reported violations. 572 freshmen voted in the election.
Though this year’s voter turnout was less than last year’s, Dirzulaitis said that he was still pleased with the results, and that the turnout was still higher than that of two years ago.
“When you have a 50 percent turnout for the election it’s pretty good, we don’t even have that in the U.S,” Dirzulaitis said.
“It’s also hard to say whether or not we want 900 voting at every election because sometimes people are just blindly voting.”
The campaign process began two weeks ago with eight presidential candidates and 13 senatorial candidates. Voting was open to the freshmen class from last Thursday to last Sunday, concluding with a candidate night hosted at the FFC.
Anovick, an International Studies and economics major, was excited to be able to represent his class.
“My main overarching goal is to make Hopkins a more united freshman class with a lot more school spirit and more interest in partaking in speaking and class events,” Anovick said.
In the more immediate future, Anovick said that he plans to try to organize a freshman formal, as well as to expand the accessibility and food options of the FFC. Prior to coming to Hopkins, Anovick had worked in local government and was a part of his high school’s student government.
He attributes his victory to his campaign slogan, “Please vote for us, we already told our moms we won”.
“I think that with everyone coming to campus our first time away from parents we’re kind of dealing with the expectations that’s on us with the competitive environment that is Hopkins,” Anovick said of his quirky campaign mantra.
“As a leader I want to be as perceptive as I can to the student body but also although student government is a serious job, I want to make sure students here have a fun time.”
The new class senators were also excited to step up into their new positions, though some found the task to be initially daunting.
“The first meeting was very overwhelming, but basically I want to represent my class and be involved in what the school does,” freshman senator Gauri Wagle said.
Wagle also added that as a class senator he would like to make the SGA more accessible to the general student body.
New senator Michael St. Germain also discussed his plans to try to make the security van service more utilized by the student body.
“I’d like to improve transportation. It’s not really easy access to Walmart or commercial centers, it’s not very efficient. Transportation should be an essential component to the agenda. Walking to the Penn station is where people are most vulnerable, and I want to look into increasing the security mile radius,” St. Germain said.
St. Germain, who is also a part of the ROTC, said that in addition to his plans to improve the security van availability, he has plans to improve the freshman dining experience because he believes that it will improve freshman class bonding.
“Freshmen develop a sense of class unity and strength [through dining],” St. Germain said.
“Hopkins has a very selective admissions process, there’s something special about each and every freshman, and we need to find that reason.”
Overall, Dirzulaitis said that he thought the first meeting with the new representatives was promising.
“The kids are well spoken and have good ideas, they’re all eager to get started. They had their first meeting, they get sorted into committees next week and we hit the ground running from there. It’s really a seamless transition in,” Dirzulaitis said.
The new representatives also feel that the campaign process was a learning experience. In order to be placed on the voting ballot, candidates must garner 200 signatures from supporting classmates.
There is then a three day voting period in which the candidates put up personal statements on the SGA website and students cast their votes. Voting ended this Sunday, and results of the election were released on Monday.
“What I’ve learned was that really the students are the most important constituency for the Johns Hopkins administrators, and the administrators know that,” Anovick said.
“It’s just a matter of the students realizing that they should have the confidence to take it up when there’s something wrong with one of their classes or there’s something wrong at the FFC, and it’s just my job to represent them.”
—Additional reporting by Wang Jae Rhee
