2025-2026 StuCo Elections Conclude
By KAYLEE GONG, MARVIN SHIM, ARJUN VELAN, ANDREW YANG, and MEGHAN TATE ZEE
This past week, the Academy’s Student Council held its annual turnover elections for the Executive Board of the 2025-2026 term.
With a competitive race for key positions, students made their voices heard, casting down their votes for their newest representatives to lead the student body. Lowers Ari Benenson and Jade Yoo were elected Co-Secretaries, upper Andrew Gould secured the position of Vice President, and after a heated presidential run-off and debate, upper Lauren Lee, former co-secretary, was elected to serve as Student Council President. The new Executive Board will take office in the second week of the spring term.
The elections saw impressive student participation, with 79% voter turnout for the presidential election and 69% for the other positions and the presidential primary.
After getting elected, Yoo reflected on a passion for StuCo many of the candidates feel, “I love working with the student body. I’ve been holding different positions since 4th grade, but no matter what role it was, [Student Council has] brought me a lot of joy. That joy pushes me to work for StuCo every year, and the passion has never stopped.”
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday night, Feb. 4, all the candidates took the Assembly stage to deliver brief campaign speeches. The general election then opened from 8 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5. But before candidates were allowed to participate in the public appearance, the Elections Committee and StuCo needed to verify the candidates with the signatures they gathered from the student body.
Upper Alex Trotman, Co-chair of the Student Council’s Elections Committee, commented on the process the Elections Committee undergoes to ensure the elections run smoothly and fairly for all candidates. “To ensure fairness in our elections, Elections Committee practices confidentiality in all aspects,” he said. “When we count signatures, we don’t release information before the student body is aware. If we were to, some candidates would have unfair advantages.”
Verification is essential. Lower Kobi Ajene, a member of the Elections Committee, added, “We went through the essential process of verifying the signatures, and tried to make it as unbiased as possible. If we had any invalid names, we crossed it out. This is why we encouraged the candidates to get more signatures than the required amount. We try to make it fair by putting the same barriers on every candidate.”
“Additionally, we do not condone any harmful comments between candidates during the election process. If candidates feel attacked emotionally, their campaigning experience will be hampered,” Trotman stated.
Ajene continued to explain the preparations which started around Thanksgiving. He stated, “People were starting to announce whether they were running or not and I think that’s when elections began to be on everyone’s mind,” Ajene remarked, “But the time leading up to elections is still important because the process [the Elections Committee undergoes] shows it’s fair and democratic. The way StuCo is run is for every single policy or action that happens in StuCo, we have to vote on it.”
Since upper Ethan Benenson, the other co-chair of the Elections Committee, entered the elections as a presidential candidate, the committee encountered some difficulties. “Since he was running, he temporarily had to step down from his position. It was hard to be the only co-chair organizing this election, but the advisors, Dean Marshall and Ms. Rankin, and president Cam Khater were extremely helpful [in the process],” Trotman shared.
“I was on stage [in the general elections] since Ethan was running for president. He couldn’t directly participate in the ongoing elections while he was running. So I volunteered to help out,” Ajene noted. “I was listening to all the people’s speeches, and just being on stage that day, seeing how so many people came excited to hear what the candidates had to say, was a pretty exciting moment.”
When the executive candidates were allowed to speak on Tuesday, the audience was able to evaluate candidates and vote for co-secretaries, vice president, and three presidential nominees.
For preps, the Tuesday night speeches were especially insightful. Prep Rick Osei-Addae commented after the event, “It was super hype and I hate to say, but it was evident who was prepared and wanted the role and who wasn’t. But even then, everybody who got up there deserved their place—it was a great opportunity to hear them out.”
Prep Ryan Ramos spoke of her first experience with Student Council speeches. “It was super fun and a lot more lively than I expected it to be. It made me more excited to see how the election plays out,” she said.
Prep Gavyn Jones elaborated, “The speeches were great and enticing. Everyone had good points and reasoning behind why we should elect them. The speeches definitely positively impacted my voting, especially as a prep, because I don’t know a lot of lowers and uppers.”
Lower Michelle Kio-Michael added, “Some of the candidates were very lively. You could tell who had a lot of public support and who didn’t. Something was said about going back to 1781, which raised a lot of eyebrows, but overall, it was great.”
Upper Asha Masoudi added, “Lauren Lee stood out to me because she was very eloquent and sassy, which I love.”
After the presidential primaries, three candidates entered the presidential run-offs. Uppers Kyle Kennedy’s, Ethan Benenson, and Lauren Lee participated in the official presidential debate on Friday, Feb. 7 during assembly.
Ajene believed that the presidential debate was extremely significant for the election as it allowed the student body to make more informed decisions. “The debate turnout was way bigger than public appearance, and I think this helped those candidates who made it to the debate. It’s important to give a fair chance to the candidates to present themselves and their policies at a required appointment for all the students,” commented Ajene.
Trotman added, “I think the presidential debate is the most important part of the election process. In the last two years, there’s been a correlation between presidential victory and good debate performance. It’s also a very stressful environment being on stage, so it’s a good way to see how your president acts under pressure.”
Lower Minnie Kim provided her perspective as a viewer of the debate, “I think it was one of the best assemblies that we’ve ever had. It was fun to see how different candidates had plans about reforming and improving the school.”
Voting for the run-off began at the start of the school day on Friday and closed at 7:30 p.m. The results were released to the student body later that night. Turnovers will happen at the beginning of the spring term and the student body anticipates the changes that the new board will bring on campus in the next three terms.
Yoo concluded by emphasizing the importance of StuCo in the Exeter community. “Student Council plays a crucial role in deciding the quality of student life, and will impact the memories we make during our Exeter experience,” she said. “To make it successful, I believe transparency, accessibility, inclusivity, and proactive communication are key. I am honored and excited to work with Exec to create an environment where every student feels empowered and connected. Go Big Red!”
