Editors’ note: As outlined in Hill’s SGA constitution, The Hill News publishes statements of each presidential candidate. We take this role seriously, seeing it as an essential part of keeping an informed student body. To view the full candidate statement, click here.
Candidate Pairs:
- Chloe Willman and Charlie Winston
- Conlan Boyer and Taylor Bigbie
- Hilton Johnson and Maggie Qi
- Philip Kim and Anastasia Krafczek
- Tane King and Anthony Grosso
- Terry Li and Ibrahim Eckmecki
Questions:
- What do you have to contribute to Hill? Briefly outline some of your INDIVIDUAL goals and initiatives should you be elected.
- How do you and your running mate plan to contribute to Hill together? Briefly describe the collaborative goals and initiatives you both aim to implement if elected.
- Why did you want to run for SGA?
- What made you choose your running mate?
Below are the candidate pairs’ responses to Question 2.
Chloe Willman and Charlie Winston
While we both have individually picked projects to work on if chosen as co-presidents, we’ve also come across similarities in terms of things we want to improve at Hill. The biggest goal we share is to improve the culture and spirit on campus. Both of us feel that there is a lack of connection and community at Hill, and so we agreed that improving these would be our biggest goal. We feel that involvement is key to restoring a familial atmosphere. This can look like many different things, whether it be being better at showing up to games, concerts, etc. on campus and supporting one another, or starting new traditions that can bring our community together. We also agreed that a crucial aspect of involvement is inclusivity. It’s important to us that everyone can, at the very least, have the opportunity to make connections with everyone. Often at Hill, people tend to stick to a smaller group, maybe from a team or a dorm. Of course, there is nothing wrong with having a close group of friends; however, it is also important for us to expand beyond these groups and build outside connections, which is something we will work to achieve if given the opportunity.
Conlan Boyer and Taylor Bigbie
The goals of our campaign are straightforward and simple. Together my running mate and I aim to bring all individuals within Hill’s community together and strengthen the overall environment we live in. Although we are both similar in certain situations, we still bring a diverse attitude and approach towards life at Hill. Having experiences as a day student and border will help us to better understand the needs of the whole student body alike. Heightening the sense of community and unity in and around our campus is our number one goal. We will work towards resuscitating the Hill pride which has been missing throughout our student body. To achieve ideas like this we plan to implement a direct line of communication from the SGA representatives to you the student body in the most widely available platform, Today on The Hill. Along with this, we hope to bring bigger events and activities widely available for all forms to participate in on a larger scale. Above all of this, however, our biggest promise is to be an accurate representation of what the students of Hill most desire. In our truest form, we will embody and represent what the students want and work until no end to achieve the ideas and changes brought forward by the student body.
Hilton Johnson and Maggie Qi
If elected, we aim to be the point person between the administrators and the student body. The core of our campaign is communication, explaining why things worked or didn’t work—pairing activism with visibility. During our biweekly meetings, we plan to invite faculty outside of the SGA to come and give in-person feedback on initiating projects. By instituting biweekly meetings open to faculty such as the Academic Office, Deans’ Office, and Schedule Planning, we aim to create a platform for direct dialogue. This initiative will facilitate an unprecedented chance of direct discussion, allowing us to present student concerns and collaboratively explore solutions, such as the potential reintroduction of Thursday all-school sleep-ins, the balance of H-term schedules, and allowing DoorDash on weekdays.
Recognizing the importance of transparency from our experience, we propose to open SGA meetings to the student body every month. This would give more people an idea of what the SGA is doing and how initiatives are made, discussed, and implemented. Each term, we aim to visit dorms to hear YOUR voice and get a chance to learn what YOU want to see done in person. By bridging the gap between students and administrators, enhancing transparency, and actively seeking out student voices, we aim to create a more connected and vibrant Hill community.
Philip Kim and Anastasia Krafczek
We plan to contribute to Hill together by being a voice for the students by creating a connected community through the SGA. We plan to do this through three major avenues: School Spirit, Connectivity, and Communication. In terms of school spirit, we plan to work with the blue crew and through the dorm cup. We will ensure themes in a timely manner, bring more half-time games during blue light games, and incentivize dorm cup competition through greater prizes. However, overall our plan relies on community engagement, and we plan to be engaged and active in the community to lead by example. When it comes to connectivity and communication, we have plans to create an environment that incentivizes open conversation with the SGA. We want to be active in getting engagement rather than waiting for people to come to us. We plan to do this through online forms, an SGA section in Hill News, in person forums through form meetings (With each form to address accomplishments and listen to requests and opinions), and more. More specifically we have a big idea of creating weekly SGA talks during flex, where a group of random students are selected weekly to gain input about everyone. I think creating an open conversation with the SGA and people who you might not interact with everyday, will help boost connectivity and communication.
Tane King and Anthony Grosso
Firstly, we would like to recognize the fact that we are able to work together efficiently and enjoyably. Mr. Gettings can attest to this as a witness to our performance in math class. In all seriousness, we have a strong joint initiative that both of us are willing to work extremely hard on in order to achieve. As two day students, people will say that we do not have an understanding of boarding life. To this we say that is entirely inaccurate. We both have made lifelong boarding friends and oftentimes spend more time in the dorms than we do our own rooms. As fall varsity athletes, we both have gotten a taste of boarding life through preseason, and by the start of next fall, we will already be settled into our own permanent dorm rooms. With this in mind, we would like to continue to make the boarding to day student connection even stronger through our platform of SGA. We look forward to getting started.
Terry Li and Ibrahim Eckmecki
To start with, we aim to develop a comprehensive mental health program that will offer workshops, speaker events, and increased access to counseling services. We will ensure recognizing the importance of student well-being. We will prioritize taking every necessary step in identifying and curing potential mental problems in our student body. Secondly, we aim to launch a series of cultural events and workshops aimed at celebrating diversity and promoting inclusiveness on campus. One of our significant goals will be to envision every student feels valued and heard. Especially for international students, our biggest goal will be to diversify cultural interactions on our campus. Lastly, we will enhance campus life by organizing more inclusive events to foster a strong sense of community and belonging among students. Our anticipation will be to categorize problems and find effective solutions to respond to every problem in the school community.