As Seniors make memories in their final days on campus and students prepare to depart for the summer, the other classes have elected new class presidents for the 2021-2022 school year. 

Class presidents advocate for the grade’s needs, work with class deans to plan grade-wide events, and address issues that arise in the class. Julia Widen ’24 and Sahil Annamaneni ’24 were elected rising Lower Mid class presidents, Richie Mamam Nbiba ’23 and MacCoy Weil ’23 were elected rising Upper Mid class presidents, and Cooper Roh ’22 and Lydia Bullock ’22 were elected rising Senior class presidents. 

All of the students elected have served on class council this year with some serving for all terms during their time at the school. Mamam Nbiba and Weil’s participation in class council and desire to be more involved with the class inspired the pair to serve. Weil said, “Helping others through student government [is] a passion of mine. Richie and I wanted to work together because…we work well as a team.” Bullock echoed Weil’s sentiments, saying, “With our experience on class council, most of our classmates respect us, and I think that was one of the factors in why the class chose us. They know we’ll do a good job, take initiative, and be genuine.”

Mamam Nbiba and Weil have two main goals: to have as much fun as possible on weekend nights and to lower stress levels. Mamam Nbiba said, “The college process [creates a lot of stress] in Upper Mid Year. We want to work with the administration and college office to [make the process more gradual].”

Similarly, Senior class presidents are working towards a memorable final year, beginning with policy changes. Bullock and Roh want to propose that Seniors be able to take one co-curricular season off. Roh said, “I would just like the class to embrace leaning into discomfort…to create better memories.” The pair will work with newly elected All-School Presidents Sydney Goldstein ’22 and Izhaar Rosa ’22, as well as the recently elected rising Senior Class Council over the summer to work on this and other changes. 

While class presidents have grade-specific agendas, all pairs hope to hold more class bonding activities to make up for lost opportunities due to COVID-19 restrictions this past year. These initiatives range from holding class-wide events to integrate new Lower Mids to continuing Senior traditions such as Senior Skip Day and Senior Pranks. Widen said, “We want to create a grade that we’ll miss when we graduate. Our overarching goal is to make it a fun year by tackling any issues, holding class events, and bringing back traditions like the Lower Mid Halloween Dance so we can [return to] a more ‘normal’ Hotchkiss.”

Lower Mid and Upper Mid Class Council elections will be held in the fall.