Before the spring long weekend, Xander Hoishik ’24 and Evan Sun ’24 were announced to be running against Reet Tharwani ’24 and Mason Moore ’24, the current fifth form SGA senators, for the position of SGA Co-Presidents for the 2023-2024 school year. On 19 April, the two pairs debated in front of the entire school in the CFTA.

Both candidate pairs prepared for the debate differently, highlighting to the two separate paths that they chart for the future of the school.

“We have written an opening and closing statement,” Sun stated in an email. “We have also prepared for questions we expect are going to be asked. I have reviewed past debates and what past candidates have done to prepare for the debate.”

Sun and Hoishik have also prepared for possible questions about their campaign that might be asked.

“Since we are both male candidates, I think the biggest question that we will be asked is how we will represent the female community,” Sun stated in an email. “We believe that no two students are capable of representing the entire hill community. Xander and I work well together and I believe we can effectively represent the Hill School.”

Moore believes that Tharwani and him are ready for the debate. “I think if you told us, we would have had to debate right now. If we had a debate this afternoon or tomorrow, I think we’d be ready. I think our emotions would be excitement. I think we’re really excited for the debate. We’re excited for people to get to know more about us personally and also more about why we are running for the position of co-presidents.” Moore said.

The candidates had made a lot of preparations and efforts leading up to their campaigns. “We have had meetings with many faculty members and students while preparing,” Hoishik said.

Similarly, “in preparation for the debate, we started asking our peers and our friends and faculty members, but mostly peers.” Moore ’24 said.

During the debate, the two campaigns differ in many aspects. One of those ways is their goals.

“Reet and I have three pillars to our campaign. The first pillar being common spaces at Hill. The second pillar being trust. The third pillar being student engagement within the SGA,” Moore said.

The pair believed that they could achieve their first goal by creating more open common spaces where students regardless of gender and timing of the day can hang out together, their second goal by starting communication with administrators and student leaders. Their third goal can be achieved by “meeting privately with student leaders across campus. We want to meet privately with the chairs of SAMH and with the heads of DEI, a variety of organizations on campus. We also want to meet with team captains from each season.” Moore said.

Hoishik and Sun instead chose to focus on transparency during the debate.

“We have six goals in mind for next year if elected: transparency, transition, the schedule, communication with clubs and organisations, community events, and integration of day students into the community.” Sun said.

Hoishik and Sun believed that their first goal can be achieved through the creation of a website and frequent emails to update the community on the plans the SGA was working on, and their second goal. Their third, fourth and fifth goal can be achieved through working with various administrators, student leaders and their peers.

The two pairs also differ in the representation the candidates offer. “In ours we have one female identifying and one male, while they have like two male identifying, so I feel like I can represent the female part of the student body more.” Tharwani commented.

Tharwani believes that the pair’s two years of experience will aid them to better lead the SGA next year. “Since we’ve been senators for two years, I think we kind of know the ins and outs, like how things work, how to communicate with other faculty, how to incorporate them and what steps to take. Like we know the pathways inside the SGA.” Tharwani said.

Comparatively, although Sun and Hoishik have held various leadership positions, like Hoishik being a Day Student Prefect, they lack SGA experience. Addressing the lack of  of SGA experience, Hoishik thinks that it is always better “to have a fresh start, a new set of eyes on things”.

The position of SGA co-presidents allows for them to bring about many significant changes to the community. Hoishik believed that having been able to “take advantage of all the opportunities Hill had to offer.”

“We’re doing it for all of the students,” Hoishik said.