On April 23, Dwyer Illick ’26 and Serena Nam ’26 were elected all-school presidents for the 2025-26 academic year.

Illick and Nam have been on Class Council since Prep year and served as Lower Mid class presidents. “All- school presidents seemed like a great next step,” said Nam. Illick said, “We wanted to continue and expand on our past roles.” Nam is co-head of Calliope, a member of the DEI Council, serves on the board of Hotchkiss Political Union, and is a proctor in Buehler. Illick is co-head of Random Acts of Kindness, Computer Science Club, School of Thought, and a proctor in Coy.

During their candidate speeches at an all-school meeting on Tuesday, April 22, Illick and Nam emphasized how their involvement in leadership positions has taught them valuable lessons about  organization,  collaboration, and communication. Nam said, “Most importantly, it taught us to love the tight-knit community around us, which is why we hope to serve as your next all- school presidents.”

Illick said, “We have been taking note of all your ideas for policy changes, and will work with the faculty to make scheduling  improvements,  teacher feedback forms, and more outdoor seating a reality.”

In their candidate statement, the two presidents said, “We aim to bring life to the Main Building by playing more music in the main hallway and the Student Center, hosting more dances, school-bonding games, and events in the new Dining Hall. We want to ramp up the excitement around major holidays with Easter eggs in Main, gold coins for Hanukkah, pumpkin carving contests, and a huge Christmas tree on Senior Grass.”

In addition to working on improving the social aspect of community life, Illick and Nam would like to explore the possibility of moving the 9-10 p.m. free time from Wednesday to Tuesday night, when students tend to have less homework; revisit the detention policy; keep the library open until 10 p.m. on Sundays; increase passing time between classes; and expand hours at the Mars Athletic Center.

In their statement, they said,“We want to foster a less competitive environment around grades by making the honor roll more private and converting the peer listeners’ space into an emergency nap room during the class day.”

In order to improve engagement within the community, they plan to host more Stu-Facs, bring together each grade’s class council, run an all-school Instagram, and send weekly event emails.