The University’s Student Council held its inauguration ceremony in the Rotunda Friday to swear in officers elected by the student body in February and reflect upon the past Student Council term.
Third-year College student Alex Cintron was sworn in as Student Council president. Third-year College student Sydney Bradley was sworn in for vice president for administration and third-year College student Ty Zirkle was sworn in to a second term as vice president for organizations.
Cintron is succeeding fourth-year College student Sarah Kenny.
Cintron is the first Latinx president in Student Council history and worked with members on the executive board to form the first Latinx leadership program at the University this past year. In addition to emphasizing representation of the Latinx community at the University, Cintron said he plans to use his position as Student Council president to better represent the entire student body.
“It matters that people of different backgrounds are in these different leadership positions so that their voices of their communities can be heard at least, and that they are able to represent communities effectively,” Cintron said.
In addition to increasing minority representation among organizations at the University, Cintron said he hopes to establish new committees and ideas for the Student Council. One in particular is the establishment of a bylaws committee to improve the Student Council’s bylaws and allow for the internal bylaws document to remain effective and up to date.
Cintron said this committee would be chaired by Mary Alice Kukoski, the current rules and ethics committee chair and a second-year College student, and consist of representatives and anyone wanting to help reform and amend the current bylaws.
Liam Wolf, the outgoing Student Council chief of cabinet and fourth-year Engineering student, thanked Student Council for a successful year and said being present at events is the most important aspect for anyone in Council.
“If you want to make a difference in this University, and I think we as students truly can, I implore you to keep showing up,” Wolf said. “Even when it gets tough and you get rejected, keep showing up and keep putting in the work. This University and the Student Council will repay you for it.”
Wolf said some of the accomplishments from his time in office include developing solutions to provide better funding for University artists, fully implementing Student Council’s pilot project of offering free menstrual products and launching an educational campaign on the history of white supremacy at the University.
Cintron has appointed second-year College student Taylor Overton to be the next Student Council chief of cabinet.
Kenny said after her departure she hopes that the Student Council will focus more on the graduate student community.
“I think we have done a better job of representing the graduate community this past year but there’s a lot more work to build out,” Kenny said. “[I hope] that they continue to position themselves as resources and allies rather than the center stage, elite organization that isolates people, to continue to try and get involved in the community as much as possible.”
Kenny said she hopes she left a lasting impact on the Student Council.
“I hope I’ve left behind an energy and an excitement about hyper-local governance, and an understanding that the work we do as students matters, and it has implications in the local-state-national levels, our voices can really change the narrative [and] truly make a difference.”
Cintron also swore in elected Student Council representatives for each of the University's schools Friday.
“When we look at the new representatives coming in, they are dedicated people,” said Avery Gagne, a first-year College student and Student Council representative. “I believe that if we keep this sense of pride, passion and dedication up, everyone will be active.”
Following Friday’s ceremony, representatives re-elected second-year College student Ellie Brasacchio to continue serving as chair of the Representative Body.
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