Next year, the student senate will not only be taken in a different direction, but it will be led by almost an entirely different staff.

Incoming sophomores, the class of 2018, will be led by president Bennett Matson and vice president Carson Moriarty, juniors will be represented by president Alton Stovall and vice president Bayard Anderson and seniors will be led by president Sydney Lanyon and vice president John Kutteh. Officers for the incoming freshmen class, the class of 2019, have not yet been determined.

Executive leaders, who will represent the student senate as a whole, include president William McBride, vice president Will Courtney, treasurer Blake Nicolia and secretary Caroline Fossett.

Annie Vento: Will the structure of the student senate change at all next year? If so, how?

Will Courtney: ”The structure itself is going to remain the same as in the position titles, roles and hierarchy if you will, but the change is going to come in the representatives with more activism in the student body. The treasurer will be the one to count the money, not the president or vice president, the secretary is going to send out emails and answer questions, not the president or vice president, and the officials of each class are going to set a standard for spirit and day-to-day excellence in which the student body should uphold to create a lively environment that is supportive to all co-curricular teams or performances.”

AV: What are you most excited about for next year in terms of what the student senate will accomplish?

Bayard Anderson: “I think something that a lot of us have in mind is improving our school spirit. We want to be selling out football and basketball games consistently, but we also want to have huge turnouts for the sports that do not always get much support. We want to have the strongest student section in the state. Obviously we don’t have the biggest school, but one person yelling and cheering is worth ten just standing around. Everybody is going to have to get involved, so we will have to lead by example.”

Alton Stovall: ”Among other things, I am most excited about uniting us, as a class and as an upper school, in our final years here at St. George’s. Specifically, I hope to make the most of the events that bring us together outside of the classroom such as dances [and] pep rallies, … and possibly even organize more of them.”

AV: What do you want to bring to the student senate next year?

Blake Nicolia: ”Snacks and swag.”

Caroline Fossett: ”I plan to bring more organization to the student senate. There may have been a few issues with last minute planning this year, so I would like to get the majority of the dates … for next year’s events set in place before the end of this school year.”

AV: As the student senate president, what is your number-one goal when leading next year?

William McBride: “Absolute power.”

AV: What was the biggest challenge for the student senate this past year and how will you work to improve on similar situations next year?

Bennett Matson: ”One of the largest problems for the student senate was brainstorming ideas for the dances and spirit days, and I want that to become easier through involving the students more.”

Will Courtney: ”The biggest challenge was communication this past year, and the way we are going to fix that is to have our secretary on top of her stuff and always focused in on giving the students notice of events way ahead of time so that nothing fails, like Winter Palooza this past year. We are going to have each grade representative spread word and a positive attitude about every event, no matter how big or small, and get a good mood set so when the event comes around, it is a success!”