Shivani Vikuntam and Rachel Chung were elected Barnard’s first-year class president and vice president, respectively, Barnard’s Student Government Association announced on Sunday. The pair said their biggest goal for the year is to bring together first-year students on all floors of Barnard residence halls.
“We have so many events focused on our floor, such as Constellations, and we both realized that we can’t really get in touch with people on different floors,” Chung said. “We want to focus on ensuring that the community knows each other, that there will be an increase of community here.”
Vikuntam said she wants to hold inter-Constellation competitions, field days, and celebrations for non-religious holidays, such as Halloween, to unite the first-year class. Chung added that she and Vikuntam hope to organize dance parties similar to the one held at the Bronx Zoo during the New Student Orientation Program.
“It’s a great way to put yourself out there and get to know more people,” Chung said.
Vikuntam said she also wants to increase first-year involvement in the SGA’s decision-making process and encourage all first-year students to attend SGA Representative Council meetings. “I plan on creating some way of notifying students through Facebook to let them know what’s happening in SGA, how they can get involved, and what they can do to make a difference,” Vikuntam said.
It’s a busy week for undergraduate student council elections. Applications are still open for other first-year positions on SGA. The first-year candidates for Engineering Student Council debated on Thursday, the Columbia College Student Council candidates debated on Sunday, and voting for both opens on Monday.
