The SGA initiated a caucus contest due to the overwhelming interest of 3rd form students in running for the two available representative positions.

On Septembter 28, 13 3rd form students who were interested in running for SGA spoke before their class, after which the 3rd form audience voted for their top three choices for each gender. “We narrow it down first, so the caucus is an opportunity to have your first chance to hear from everyone together in person and then narrow it down to three boys for the boys representatives and three girls for the girls. After that, they go through another round where they’ll have more time because there are fewer candidates to hear from.” Nick Malinak, government teaching fellow, said.

The caucus provided both the third form students and candidates a chance to get to know more about their peers who wish to be the their form’s SGA representatives. “ I was really kind of impressed and motivated by how different people were. They had their own unique experiences and outlook on their general perception of their time here at Hill and how positive it was.” Ethan Ryu ’26, one of the candidates said.

During the caucus, candidates were asked about one experience that stood out to them and what values define leadership for them. Each candidate was give a short time frame of 45 seconds to present their thoughts on the questions asked to the audience. “I think the questions were good and I think they really represented each person like nicely. I think they were really on point in getting to know the person.” Caroline Brandt ’26, one of the female candidates commented.

“I think it went well. You had a lot of genuine answers. I think it was impressively detailed and fit well in a short amount of time, which is always hard.” Malinak remarked.

There were a few candidates that had to attend online through Zoom due to various circumstances, like COVID illness and off campus competitions. “The students who were online were able to be pretty strongly included” Malinak commented.

Some candidates, however, who joined the event through Zoom felt like they were put at a disadvantage. “I felt it was a lot more difficult on Zoom because I was with my team and I was trying to get ready for a game. And everyone was looking at me and it was just not the right environment or setting that I felt best represented myself. And so I felt like if I did it in person, I would’ve been a lot more proficient and well spoken.” Ella Ross ’26 expressed, who took part on Zoom due to a soccer tournament.

Furthermore, some of the candidates who were online met technical difficulties. “I had no idea who was listening and could not see the audience, I was just looking at a black screen” Lola Ge ’26 remarked, who was one of the candidates that participated online.

Nonetheless, as it was announced on Monday during lunch, Caroline Brandt ’26, Lola Ge ’26, Srinidhi Pasumarthy ’26, Richard Liu ’26, Barkley Reid ’26 and Griffin Hopper ’26 advanced into the next round: the SGA debate on October 12. Of the six candidates, Ge and Brandt were candidates that attended online through zoom.

Overall, the caucus event managed to achieve its goal of allowing a majority of the third form population to learn more about their peers who are running to be their SGA representative. “I felt like everyone else brought a different perspective, which I thought was well presented in the caucus,” Ross said.