During the month of May, the third, fourth and fifth form elected their SGA form representatives for the 2023-2024 school year. Some current SGA representatives were re-elected to continue to serve their form for the next year, while other representatives were edged out by their competition for the coveted post. 

An announcement during lunch on May 8th announced the winners of each election. Ayaan Rege ‘26 and Avery Cohen ‘26 will join the SGA as fourth form SGA senators, Maggie Qi ‘25 and Hilton Johnson ‘25 would be re-elected to serve as fifth form SGA senators, and Katie Hicks ‘24 and Akhil Kagithapu ‘24 will serve as the sixth form SGA senators. They will be working with Mason Moore ‘24 and Reet Tharwani ‘24, who were elected as SGA co-presidents for the 2023-2024 school year on April 26th.  

There were several close results between the candidates who won and their competition. Current SGA secretary Kagithapu ‘24 only edged out his close competitor Jeremy Lee ‘24 by 10 votes, which is only about 1.8% of the total votes, to win the position. Current fourth form SGA representative Johnson ‘25 also prevailed over his closest competitor Ibrahim Ekmekci ‘25 by less than 3.5% of votes, which is only a difference of 18 votes.  

During their campaign, each candidate expressed different goals they wished to achieve should they be elected. These goals ranged from helping students to “strengthen our ties and creating lasting memories,” which Hicks ‘24 expressed in her candidate statement. Ella Lee ‘24, another candidate expressed “building a stronger and more inclusive community here at Hill” in her candidate statement.  

The demographics of each form’s candidate pool varied. In the third form, a caucus had to be held due to an overwhelming interest from male-identifying students to take on the post of fourth form SGA senator in the 2023-2024. 

The caucus was held the night of May 2, which is the night before the SGA debate, in the Class of 1971 garden. It [the caucus] was held to narrow down the field of male-identifying candidates from six down to three who would advance to the debate the next day. The six male-identifying candidates who participated in the caucus are Nathan Han ’26, Arul Jindal ’26, Richard Liu ’26, Shane Duo ’26, Ayaan Rege ‘26 and Leon Zhou ’26. These candidates were only made aware the night before the caucus that they were scheduled to speak in front of their form the next day and that they had to prepare an opening statement. 

Due to the tight timeline, some candidates felt that they were unprepared for the caucus. “We were only told around last night by Ms. McConney [Laura McConney, Student Life Coordinator, Associate Head Girls’ Ice Hockey Coach] and we got an email basically at the last minute. And I think that’s the main reason that not many people were super prepared for it,” Duo ‘26, who was one of the third form SGA candidates that spoke, commented. McConney takes on a different perspective, “Unfortunately  part of the challenge with the SGA and scheduling events is that the schedule is dictated by meeting periods and other constrains with the school calendar. As such, there is a tight timeline between the co-presidential and senatorial elections this year. This created a faster than preferred senate process, inclusive of the caucuses. That said, the intent of the caucus itself is intended for candidates to rally their supporters. So while this proved challenging for candidates given the tight timeline, it is perhaps demonstrative of their support. I’d encourage students who may have been displeased with the process this year to reach out to their senators and co-presidents as the constitution evolves and policy is made for the next year.” 

During the caucus, each candidate was given one minute for opening statements before they proceeded to the general questions portion of the caucus. It was then followed by the personalized questions section. The caucus ended on a sweet note with each candidate choosing one of their competitors to shout out and compliment. The third formers present at the caucus then had to vote on their top three picks that they wished would advance to the debate the next day.   

On the morning of May 3, the third formers received an email informing them that Liu ’26, Rege ‘26 and Zhou ’26 would be the three candidates advancing to the SGA debate that day during the meeting period.  

While the third form had an overwhelming number of male-identifying students who were interested in being a part of the SGA, the opposite situation occurred in the fourth form. There was only one female-identifying student, Maggie Qi ‘25, in the fourth form who ran for the position of SGA senator. Qi ‘25 was surprised to learn that morning that she was running unopposed this year. “ I was expecting more people to run against me,” Qi ‘25 expressed. Even though this year Qi ‘25 won the election via a walk-over, she has all the qualities necessary for the role having served as the form’s senator since third form year. Qi ‘25 assures, “I will still do my best in the role.”  

There was a similar situation with the fourth form Honor Council election candidates, where there was only one male-identifying candidate and one female-identifying candidate who ran for the position of Fifth Form Honor Council representative. The current Fourth Form Honor Council representatives Jonathan Odike ‘25 and Lucy Lyu ‘25 ran unopposed.  

Even though Lyu ‘25 ran unopposed this year, she promised to still commit her best efforts into the role. This is due to her belief that “honor is not something that you show other people when others are watching. It’s something that you always keep true to yourself when nobody’s watching.” The Hill School community wishes all of these new leaders the best as they move into their roles next year!