New Class Reps Share Plans For Upcoming School Year

Uppers Nate Moulton, Nikhil Chuchra and Nina Meyers were elected Tuesday as senior class president, vice president and treasurer, respectively, finalizing the class representative elections for the 2013-2014 school year.

This year’s Student Council lower representative election, 20 preps ran for three spots, marking one of the most competitive class representative elections in recent history, according to Student Council President Max Freedman. Preps Rex Tercek, Levon Brunson and Jun Park were announced as the three lower representatives for the next school year, after Park won a tie-breaker for the third lower rep spot on Wednesday afternoon. In addition, lowers Robert Conner, Stephanie Chen and Paul Lei were selected as next year’s upper representatives.

"I am thrilled that so many qualified candidates ran in each race," Freedman said. "I know that those who will serve as reps are hard-working people who care about their school and their constituents. It will be a good year with those elected serving their classes."

Freedman added that tie-breakers in class representative races were unusual occurrences. "My advisors don't remember this happening before and neither do I," he said. "We are happy that the class will have the opportunity to choose the reps they think will best represent them, and I think that, no matter what, the class of 2016 will be in good hands."

Park expressed his joy of being elected as the third lower rep. "I feel honored and thrilled to serve the lower class," Park said. "To be honest, I never expected there to be a tie. Kevin and I were both surprised when we heard the news. It was definitely exciting and I was a bit nervous because Kevin was a very qualified candidate as a lower representative. We had many qualified candidates run for the election and I think that this gives me more the reason to work hard in order to make improvements for next year."

Newly-selected Senior Class President Nate Moulton prepared to start his job and to pursue his plans for the rising senior class upon hearing the news. "I want to make our senior year as fun as it possibly can be. As a class, we are just entering the college grind. It's going to become increasingly more important for us to have times to chill and unwind," Moulton said. "We have three terms left. So much is going to happen in those three terms, but in the grand scheme of things, we only have three more terms together."

Moulton outlined several ideas he had for the Class of 2014. "I'd like to have a lot of new events. Some ideas are for a seniors-only Las Olas night, where we have food from Las-O brought to Agora, at 9:15 or some other time when only seniors are allowed to be out. One of the classes a few years ago tried that, and it worked really well," he said. "I think the senior meditation book was a fantastic idea, and it's one that I hope to continue in the future. I'm so glad that the class of 2013 was able to produce such a nice publication. I am confident that we can find the funding so that all seniors will receive a copy of their classmates' meditations free of charge."

Freedman praised the abilities and potential of the elected senior class president, vice president and treasurer. "Nate Moulton is one of the most diligent and morally upright people I know, and I am confident he will rise to the challenge of serving as senior class president," Freedman said. "Nikhil Chuchra has the experience from two years of grade rep experience to be a strong senior class VP, and Nina Meyers has the spark, passion and attention to detail required of the senior class treasurer."

Other newly-selected class representatives were also excited to have been elected by their classmates and to start at their posts soon. "I can’t wait for next year," Tercek said. "I can't wait to see what Levon, Jun and I can do together. My role models for representing the class are the current lower reps: Benj, Emily, and Robert. I saw what they did for the grade and for the school, and I want to do the same."

Representatives started planning their ideas for next school year as soon as the results were announced. "We are hoping to work on having great events all throughout the year, and ones that will de-stress uppers, because upper year is the most stressful year for most Exonians," Conner said. "We are planning to continue Assassin and to present students with improved class gear."

Chen agreed. "We want to continue what the reps did this year," she said. "Other ideas that we had were upper gym night and a capture the flag event. We want to make sure that upper year is fun because there is a lot of stress next year."

Fellow students were optimistic about the results of the class representative elections.

"There couldn't be better people representing our class," prep Jake Della Pasqua said. "Rex, Levon and Jun will serve our grade in the best way they can, and they are three of the most qualified members of the class of 2016. I'm sure they have our class and the school's best intentions close to heart."

Lower Kelvin Borges expressed similar feelings about the newly selected upper reps. "Robert, Stephanie, and Paul are all great people that the mass majority of our grade likes," Borges said. "Robert's really experienced, which will help Paul and Stephanie, who are going to bring some great ideas to the table. It should be a good year."