The final senate meeting of the semester featured the speeches, nominations and appointments of Student Senate members to executive board positions. 

The meeting began with initial greetings and reports from Student Body President Jaden Mikoulinskii and Vice President Justin Schilling. 

These reports included welcoming those nominated for their respective positions, their shared excitement for the upcoming session and the appointing of housing and mascot coordinator.

For the 65th session of Student Senate, Steven Ross will serve as housing coordinator and Zachary May as mascot coordinator.

Nominations for executive board are selected by the president and vice president and are voted on and appointed by the student senate body. 

Each nominee for the executive board gives a five minute speech promoting why they should be nominated, followed by a five minute question and answer portion for the members of the body to determine the qualifications of the nominee.

After the conclusion of the five minute question and answer portion, the body moves into a closed session to vote.

When Student Senate moves to a closed session, all individuals present who are not a voting member of the body must leave the room where deliberations are occurring. 

The first senate member to be nominated at this meeting was for the chief of staff position in the Student Senate. Olivia Schenzel, a second-year political science student, was nominated and elected to the position of chief of staff by the body. 

The next executive board position to be voted on was parliamentarian. The nominee, Jacksen Wolff, is a first-year political science student. Wolff was awarded the nomination and will be in charge of parliamentary procedure for the 65th session. 

Following parliamentary nomination, the different commission directorship position nominees presented. 

The first commission director position to be voted on was for the Student Office of Sustainability commission. The nominee, Maddie Loeffler, a third-year environmental geography and American Indian Studies student, was the UW Divestment Coalition Intern this past semester.

The body voted to nominate Loeffler for the position of Commission Director of the Student Office of Sustainability. 

The next position to be appointed was the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. The nominee, Bailey Carruthers, is a third-year public history, political science and communications student. 

Carruthers was the Intergovernmental Affairs intern in the previous session and was appointed the director position for this upcoming session. 

The finance director position nomination was also voted on and appointed. Nicholas Johnson, a first-year political science legal studies student, will serve as the finance director for the 65th session. 

The next nomination was for the position of Student Organization Director. Brenden Hicks, a third-year political science student, previously held this same directorship in the 64th session.

Hicks was once again appointed to the position of director of the Student Organization commission. 

The next position to be appointed was the director of the academic affairs commission. The nominee, Elizabeth TenBarge, is a first-year comprehensive political science legal studies student.

In the 64th session, TenBarge was the Student Senate representative for Bridgman Hall, and a member of both the Housing Accountability Committee and Academics affairs commission. TenBarge was appointed the executive directorship. 

Brett Swanson, a third-year information systems and computer science student, was the nominee for the Information Technology Commission director. Swanson was the previous director for this commission and was appointed director for the next session. 

Following the Information Technology Commission director appointment, the senate heard from the nominee for Commissioner Director of the Communications commission. Nolan Buss, a third-year marketing analytics and Spanish student was the previous communication commission intern. 

Buss was appointed to serve as the director of communications for the upcoming session. 

The second to last position appointed was for the position of Equity and Student Matters commission director. 

Mengcha Muoa, an English critical studies student was a previous member of the ESM commission and was appointed the directorship for the 65th session. 

The final nomination speech of the night was given by Brett Farmer, a first-year Integrated Strategic Communication student. Farmer was nominated for the University Activity Commission Director position. 

Farmer was appointed and will serve UAC as the director for the 65th position next fall. 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 p.m.

Shanahan can be reached at [email protected].