The ballot for the 2022-23 Senior Class Office elections was released Tuesday and the elections for class president and vice president will take place March 8-10. All University of Wisconsin students with junior status — 54 or more credit hours — can vote in Senior Class Office elections.
According to the senior class website, the president and vice president will be in charge of planning the two annual commencement ceremonies, selecting the class gift, organizing social events and representing the senior class.
According to the ballot released Tuesday, there are five candidates running for president.
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One of the candidates is Maxwell Canestraro, an economics and history major from Stillwater, Minnesota. Canestraro acknowledged the severe impact COVID-19 has had on his classmates and promises to organize social events in the coming year for UWstudents to look forward to.
“COVID, of course, has impacted our class academically as much as it has socially,” he said in an email statement to The Badger Herald. “I want all members of our class to look back at their time here as time well spent and that they walk away from here with more than just a fancy piece of paper in their hands.”
The next candidate is Gautam Agarwal, a computer science and data science major from Mumbai, India. His running mate is Girik Soni from New Delhi, India, also a computer science and data science major. The two said their lives revolve around being efficient, and they want to reflect that in their presidency, should they win.
“Being able to provide the most fun year, without needing to make tedious changes that take forever, will be our top priority,” Agarwal and Soni said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
Next in the running is PapaCanoochee Lewis-Holt, a communication arts and legal studies major from Chicago. According to the Candidate Matrix, his first priority as president will be to help international students become friends with American students on campus. Additionally, he said he would like to help female students make friends without feeling like they have to join a sorority to build connections.
Liam McClean, a political science major with certificates in entrepreneurship and leadership is running with Margo Wyatt, a political science and international studies major. The pair has promised to partner with University Health Services and various student organizations to advocate for survivors of sexual assault on campus. McLean and Wyatt also want to partner with identity-based student organizations to bridge cultural divides and increase cultural awareness and appreciation on campus.
“Mandating one ethnic studies course for all doesn’t create a dialogue of understanding,” said McLean in an email statement to The Badger Herald. “If there’s any steps that [a] student-body platform can take to amplify voices, then they should be pursued.”
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KJ Singh, a finance major from Minneapolis, and his running mate Matthew Wadhwa are both heavily involved in AKPsi, a business fraternity on campus and look forward to leaving “some footprint on this campus before we graduate.”
Students can find more information about the candidates and their platforms on UW’s Candidate Matrix.
