Photo from web.
SGA President: Diane Essis
Diane Essis has been voted in as the SGA President for the 2011-2012 academic year. She aims to increase student engagement with SGA to include more student input on discussions and issues. Essis believes that SGA has always done a great job of representing the opinions of the student body but that it would be beneficial to increase our student involvement. She hopes to be able to do this by taking advantage of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in order to get word out about our SGA initiatives.“Some pretty exciting stuff goes down in SGA meetings and the fact that we have a system of Shared Governance is awesome. I hope this type of networking will generate even more student involvement and student opinion before we amend, create, or remove certain policies.” Essis is extremely excited for the upcoming year, and hopes the student body will get to know her honest, ambitious and funny personality.
Fun Fact: She is obsessed with the “Insanity” work out program from fitness instructor Shaun T.
SGA Chief of Finance: Taylor Gould
Taylor Gould is SGA’s new Chief of Finance. Gould aims to “really take a look at how we spend our money and how we can use the money to address the needs of the students.” Gould hopes that he can truly serve the campus community and wants to achieve this by collecting more student input. “We are the representatives of the student body and should be advocating for them,” Gould explains. “The key is to foster grassroots initiatives.” Gould also wants to increase awareness of what SGA is doing on campus, and while he knows that efforts to do so have been improving, he believes that there is still space for progress.
Fun Fact: He was born in London and lived in Tokyo as a child.
SGA Chair of Academic Affairs: Mihir Sharma
Mr. Mihir Sharma will be serving as the Chair of Academic Affairs next year. He wants to work with the Educational Planning Committee (EPC) and Student Advisory Boards (SAB) to “impress more student opinion in academic matters.” Sharma hopes to “be a liaison between the esoteric administrative processes and genuine students concerns.”
Fun Fact: He relishes cooking to live music.
SGA Chair of Diversity and Equity: Juan Pablo Pacheco
Juan Pablo Pacheco will be the Chair of Diversity and Equity for the 2011-2012 academic school year. He wants “to continue the work of the Diversity Committee in its pursuit for social justice,” and hopes to achieve this “through the proposal of a required diversity-related class for all students.” Pacheco believes we, as a campus community, can engage those groups of students and members of our communities who do not typically engage in conversations about diversity in such discussions. “Because of being immersed in a society which is still racist, sexist, homophobic and predominantly hetero-normative,” said Pacheco, “Connecticut College has the duty and the right to speak out, give representation to those underrepresented communities, and take concrete action to eliminate discrimination and segregation.”
Fun Fact about Mr. Pacheco: He bites his nails!
SGA Chair or Honor Council: Alicia Cauteruccio
Alicia Cauteruccio will be serving as the Chair of Honor Council. She hopes to “ease the transition from J-Board to Honor Council and serve as a resource concerning the Honor Code and judicial issues for students and faculty alike.” “It will be important to properly acquaint new members with hearing procedures and make sure they are comfortable with their roles on the Honor Council,” Cauteruccio explains. She hopes to share her funny, caring and down-to-earth personality as a member of the SGA Executive Board and is looking forward to next year.
Fun Fact: She studied abroad during the fall semester in Milan, Italy.
Senior Class President: Daniel Wernick
Daniel Wernick will be serving as President of the Class of 2012 in the coming year. He promises to “make sure that every senior has his/her most memorable year yet at Connecticut College.” Wernick hopes to plan events and provide services such as “Oktoberfest, keg and tailgates parties before sporting events, free transportation to New London bars, foam parties and food fights for charity.” He hopes to bring together the members of the Class of 2012 in their last year at Conn, and values to keep this promise to his classmates by being honorable, hard working and fun.
Fun Fact: He is currently studying abroad in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Sophomore Class President: Prashanth Selvam
Prashanth Selvam will serve as President of the Class of 2014 next year. As President he hopes to “achieve better communication between the class council and the members of the class by establishing better dialogue.” He believes that students should know who their class representatives are so that there can be “a better flow of ideas.” “I feel that visibility is essential for any class council, so that they can understand the class better,” says Selvam. “I plan to use my voice in the SGA, not just to represent the class of 2014, but to improve the overall quality of life on campus.”
Fun Fact: His four years at Connecticut College will be the longest time he’s spent living in one country.
Editor’s note: The following SGA members were not profiled in this article: Vice President Edward Fisher, Chief of Communications Dorian Ehrlich, Chair of Residential Affairs Justine Keller, Chair of Student Activities Council Geoffrey Taylor and Chair of Environmental Affairs Elias Kauders.
