The ballot for this week’s Student Government election went live Monday, April 20 at 12:00 p.m. Sent out in a mass email via the online tool electionbuddy, students will have the opportunity to vote for 36 hours until Wednesday, April 22 at midnight.
Each open position for this year’s election is uncontested except for Student Body President. Incumbent Vice President of Internal Affairs Anna Adebambo ’21 and Senator Ray Lubus ’21 are both competing for the student government’s top spot.
Western Connecticut State University’s Student Government Association is made up of 30 senators and an executive board of one President, three role-specific Vice Presidents, and a Parliamentarian.
There are 15 candidates for Senate competing for the 2020-2021 Academic Year. There are more than 15 available seats in the Senate currently, but the senators with the greatest number of votes from each academic school will be elected to one of two Spring senatorial positions representing their school.
Despite running unopposed, each candidate for Senate and SGA Executive Board must earn at least 30 votes from the student body to be elected.
Lubus and Adebambo have both submitted letters to the campus community. In his, Senator Lubus advocated for an alternative graduation plan honoring 2020 seniors, and emphasized the coming year as a time of recovery for the student body from the fallout of the Coronavirus pandemic and the campus closure.
“I want to help all continuing students to make sure they are able to effectively return to campus and recover from this crisis,” Lubus wrote. “I do not want any student to feel that if they have any financial hardships, that they cannot still be a Westconn student.”
In her letter to the student body, Vice President of Internal Affairs (VPIA) Adebambo explained some of her accomplishments as outgoing VPIA, namely her work building the SGA’s public facing website and establishing new tools to make SGA run more efficiently. Adebambo also highlighted an issue central to her platform: misadvisement and institutional communication.
“I am running for SGA President because I want to empower the student body to advocate for issues that affect them and widen the platform to do so,” Adebambo wrote. ” There are many times where I have found that students don’t know about resources they have access to – it’s time to change that.”
Senator Myckland Cothias ’21 is running for Vice President of Finance (VPF). Cothias is a Justice & Law Administration major in the Ancell School of Business, a Resident Assistant for Litchfield Hall, and plays for Westconn’s Tennis team.
Running for Vice President of Internal Affairs is Senator Tommy Cherisme ’21. Cherisme is a Health Promotion & Exercise Sciences major in the School of Professional Studies and has served as the President for the Latin American Student Organization.
Gina Poulin ’21 is running for Vice President of Student Relations (VPSR). Poulin is a Secondary Education, English major in both the School of Professional Studies and Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences. Poulin runs Cross Country for Westconn and founded WCSU’s Running Club.
Incumbent Parliamentarian Charla Beauvais ’21 is running for reelection. Beauvais took over for Zoe Drew, the parliamentarian chosen in the 19-20 Election last spring. Beauvais works for the CHOICES team at WCSU, and has served as the President for the student organization Speak Truth to Power.
SGA Executive Board members graduating this spring include Subhatra Chelladurai, who took over for elected VP of Student Relations Elie Watson in Fall 2019, VP of Finance Danny Men, and Student Body President Paul Horkan.
The following students are running for open seats on SGA’s senate:
Kimani Campbell, Ancell School of Business.
Emily Reyes, Incumbent Representative, Ancell School of Business.
Margo Ramos, Ancell School of Business.
Myckland Cothias, Incumbent Senator, Ancell School of Business.
Anthony Fiorenza, Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences
Christina Szachon, Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences
Clinton Sosna, Incumbent Senator, Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences
Sarah Albuquerque, Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences
Taylor Hay, Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences
Gina Poulin, Incumbent Senator, School of Professional Studies
Holly Dewitt, Incumbent Senator, School of Professional Studies
Jacob Rock, School of Professional Studies
Jennifer Mastropietro, School of Professional Studies
Natalie Nevola, School of Professional Studies
Tom Cherisme, Incumbent Senator, School of Professional Studies
Assef Badr, School of Visual and Performing Arts
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