For the first time since 2003, the Whitman student body elected a rising junior to ASWC president.
Sophomore Kayvon Behroozian was elected ASWC president for the 2012-13 academic year with 51.7 percent of the vote. His competitor, junior Ryan Gilkey, had 46.3 percent of the vote; the remaining two percent were write-ins.
“I’ve been actually dreaming about this day for the past couple of months,” said an exuberant Behroozian. “I’m really excited, and the people that got elected I’m super excited to work with.”
Junior Marcial DÃaz MejÃa was elected vice president, junior Sam Sadeghi was elected finance chair and first-year Zac Parker ran unopposed to secure his place as next year’s nominations chair in the Monday, April 9 election.
DÃaz MejÃa received 44.7 percent of the first priority votes in the three-way vice presidential race. Sophomore Fernando Medina came in second, with 28.5 percent followed by junior Allison Burns with 26.2 percent. In the race for finance chair, Sadeghi handily beat junior Margaret Yang with 56.5 percent of the vote.
“I’m excited about the group of people I’m working with,” Sadeghi said. “I’m excited to learn more about the school . . . I’m just super excited, super happy that the student body elected me to this position. Hopefully I won’t let them down.”
DÃaz MejÃa expressed gratitude for being elected.
“I’m overwhelmed. I just want to thank the students who supported me. I’m so excited,” he said.
Senior Jack MacNichol, acting ASWC oversight chair, said that turnout for this election––which ranged from 62 to 68 percent for the different races––was on par with previous years.
“It’s very much in line with what we expect from other years. It’s very similar to what we see from ever year since instituting the Big Pulse system,” he said, noting that Big Pulse sent reminder emails to those who hadn’t voted by mid-day.
Behroozian already has priorities for ASWC for next year. These include working with the administration to create more experiential learning opportunities and creating a campus safety smart phone application. But for now, he’s thrilled to be elected during what he calls a pivotal time for ASWC.
“I’m super excited and a huge thank you to the student body for that vote of confidence, it really means a lot,” he said. “I’m going to do everything I can to be the best president they’ve ever seen.”
