On April 24 during seated lunch, the election committee revealed that Mason Moore ‘24 and Reet Tharwani ‘24 would serve as SGA’s co-presidents for the 2023–2024 academic year.  Students vote with a rank choice ballot, in which different points are rewarded for their first and second choices.  In total 411 students voted.  Moore and Tharwani edged out their opponents with 1056 points, while Evan Sun ‘24 and Xander Hoishik IV ‘24 received 878 points.      

Moore and Tharwani ran their campaign founded on three central pillars. These included the creation of common spaces at The Hill, building trust among the student body, and promoting engagement with SGA.  

Having been the class of 2024’s SGA representatives for the past two years, Moore and Tharwani believed their experience would allow them to more easily transition into the co-presidency role. During her time on the SGA, Tharwani played an integral role in extending mail room hours and editing the dress code. Similarly, Moore worked to integrate day students and open weekend activities during Hill’s unusual COVID-19 year.  Additionally, Tharwani and Moore were the election chairs for the 2023 special election.   

Throughout their campaign, Moore and Tharwani highlighted the importance of addressing issues that impact student life, such as those related to meals, residential life, and extracurricular activities. They pledged to be attentive to the needs of the student body and to prioritize student input in their decision-making process. 

“The biggest reason why Reet and I chose to run is because we believe student leaders shape Hill and we believe that student leaders are the mold that keep our community together.  The SGA and the co-presidential position, specifically, is stereotypically referred to as the gap between the administration and students.  We believe that we have the tools — with our experience in the SGA and our ability to work with adults and peers — to strengthen that relationship and increase students’ lives also,” Moore explained. 

Tharwani continued, stressing the importance of their prior experience working with peers. 

“I think I can speak for both of us when I say we both enjoy being role models and someone other people look up to, and we have experienced this after serving as prefects for third formers.  We’re familiar with working one-on-one with others,” Tharwani explained. 

For the two, the most pressing issue is winters at Hill, focusing on the lack of common spaces for students.  They hope to work with Residential and Student Life to improve the current conditions and regulations for open common rooms, as well as the frequency of dorm open houses.    

After becoming familiar with the challenge of passing SGA proposals, the pair also hopes to significantly increase the effectiveness of the SGA.   

“We have seen many great things be proposed and few great things be passed and approved,” Moore said. “We want to work on creating tangible and actionable ways to improve the lives of Hill community members.”  

The pair plan to do so through consistently meeting with various student leaders outside of the weekly Tuesday morning breakfast shared by student leaders. 

“DEI and SAMH, we think they do amazing work for our school, and we think they are at the current moment the most effective group of student leaders so we want to see how we can make that more effective and support them.  We want to work with the Student Life Association to communicate what the student body is feeling and provide them with a different perspective.  Also, we really just want to be supporting these organizations.  We want to meet with Ellis Theater Guild members to see how we can support them, and meet with Fall, Winter, and Spring Captains consistently. And we believe that by consistently reaching out we believe we can really increase the SGA’s effectiveness,” Moore explained.   

“With the old administration, it was a bit harder to pass proposals because their policies were different.  I think something very exciting about the new year is since there is a new head of school so there is going to be a new administration, so we are looking forward to seeing their new policies,” Tharwani said.    

As Hill welcomes Kathleen Devany as the next Head of School, the co-presidents face the added challenge and excitement of working with a new administration.  Both Tharwani and Moore expressed their eagerness to work with Devany during her transition, hoping to effectively support both the student body and the overall community.   

“We are excited to help communicate what we believe are our school’s traditions and core values to the administration to help integrate whatever potential changes Ms. Devany introduces,” Moore explained. 

Moore and Tharwani are eager to work to continue to strengthen and improve The Hill as a whole.   

“We’re excited to see the student body as one whole, even just at lunch announcements and creating the lunch time tradition that all co-presidents create,” Tharwani explained. 

Both Tharwani and Moore are looking forward to step into their new roles as co-presidents, hoping to leave a positive mark on both the Hill community and the surrounding Pottstown neighborhood. 

The only real question left is: what will their lunchtime bit be?