The student senate appointed 12 new directors in its final meeting of the year on May 6.
The night began with Todd O’Connor and Kaden Zink sworn in as senators.
President Sam Consiglio described how each of the 12 executive board nominees would have time to speak and then a round of questioning and then discussion and voting would occur in closed session.
Personnel Director Lily Eisele was the first on the podium, applying for her second year in the position. She is currently a second-year organizational communication major and discussed her leadership and communication skills.
Eisele hopes to improve on her current progress. She said she wants to work on collaborating more with Advising, Retention and Career Center and Services for Students with Disabilities in senate. She was reappointed and will serve a full year.
Luke Mandli was reappointed as parliamentarian after serving for one semester. Mandli, currently a third-year biology major, wants parliamentarian to be a “bridge across the body” working to make senate more accessible to new members.
Senator Ben Johnson asked Mandli how he would support senators. Mandli said the senate had been using the role as parliamentarian wrong and he hopes to fix it. He will serve his second term in the 68th session.
Senator Dylan Baker was appointed as Academic Affairs Commission director. The third-year math education major has served in the commission previously and hopes to focus on communication and collaboration.
“I’ve always been interested in academics as an education major,” Baker said. “It’s something I’m so passionate about and I want to help make the academics better for all students on campus.”
Reagan Jimenez, a first-year biology major was appointed as director of the Communication Commission director.
Her biggest initiative she hopes to work on is starting a TikTok account for the Student Senate. She also wants to involve student-athletes in Motivational Mondays and work to increase visibility on campus.
“I love being involved and I feel like Comms is perfect for me,” Jimenez said. “I feel like I have a lot of experience being able to outreach to other people and other organizations around campus.”
Jimenez said she also wants to get local businesses, like Olson’s Ice Cream or EC Vintage, more involved on campus.
Nelly Christelle was appointed as the Equity in Student Matters Commission senate director. The second-year public health major is an international student, who is excited to work for the commission.
She wants to emphasis the learning of multiple languages and expanding knowledge of different cultures on campus. She also discussed working with Services for Students with Disabilities and working with the new Health and Wellness Commission.
Christelle said she plans to work with the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center and Multicultural Student Services.
Cole Morehouse, a second-year finance student, was appointed the Finance Comission director, previously working as the finance intern. He described that as enrollment is going down, finance will face struggles as funding gets tighter.
Morehouse wants to focus on engagement across campus and supporting the new staff entering finance.
Brenna Strojinc was named as the Intergovernmental Affairs Commission director. The third-year English creative writing major has served on several commissions but has spent the longest time on IGA.
She has co-authored legislation for the commission in the past and plans to continue to “advocate for the student body.” Strojinc emphasized IGA will be eventful this year with the presidential election, and said she hopes to support lobbying initiatives.
Kyler Simonet, a second-year information systems major, was appointed as Information Technology Commission director. He has previously served as the ITC intern and is very experienced with staying organized.
He hopes to focus on the Innovation Budget more this year, and campaign for more applications.
Kaitlyn Hevrin was appointed as the first director of the new Student Health and Wellness Commission. The commission was created this spring, and the second-year neuroscience major served as one of the founding members from the beginning. She has experience as a CNA and has already passed several pieces of legislation improving dining for those with allergies.
She wants the commission to be an interdisciplinary space, with students of all majors involved. One senator brought up fitness as a piece of this commission, which Hevrin admits she hadn’t thought about, but will add to the commission.
“I’m kind of hoping that this commission will get a bit different where we’ll get people from all different angles of this university,” Hevrin said.
Tia Beirne was appointed as director of the Student Organization Commission after serving as the intern this past year. Following the resignation of former director Bradford Heap, Beirne has led the organization.
Beirne hopes to lead SOC in a positive direction and continue the work that was began this year. Bierne’s goal is to get more students involved in the commission and get the involvement back up to pre-pandemic levels.
Madi Shafman was appointed as the Student Office of Sustainability senate director. The second-year biochemistry major has served as an SOS member and passed several initiatives through the commission.
She hopes to continue working on Upper Campus composting and work on making the compost bins in Davies Student Center more effective. She also wants to create better outdoor spaces for students to use during the warmer months.
Zach Cardille was appointed as the University Activities Commission director. The second-year social studies education major has served as the co-chair for festival commissions of UAC and worked to plan homecoming, winterfest and springfest.
Cardille wants to work on getting increased student feedback and showing students what they want to see on campus. He wants to hire quality candidates to “boost engagement in UAC.”
Maddie Podolinsky was appointed the mascot coordinator and Evan Frawley was appointed the housing coordinator.
“There’s this fresh air coming into Senate right now and it’s going to be so amazing to see what they all do,” Consiglio said.
Leick can be reached at [email protected].
