Gil Valadez and Ariana Twitchell were named as the next Grand Marshal and President of the Union, announced by the Rules and Elections Committee Friday in the Rathskellar level of the Rensselaer Union.
Accepting the GM position, Valadez proclaimed, "Let’s bring this school to where we want it to be. It’s up to each and every one of us."
Twitchell expressed similar sentiments, noting, "I’m just very excited, and I’m looking forward to next year."
Both candidates won their respective elections by a wide margin; Valadez garnered 59 percent of the votes while Twitchell carried 70 percent of her race.
Results of other elections were announced at the ceremony as well. Members of RNE took turns reading the winners of the elections for seats on the Senate, the Independent Council, the Graduate Council, and the class councils.
Valadez and Twitchell have both expressed their intentions to improve student government. However, runner-up GM and PU candidates expressed a lack of confidence in the newly elected officials.
"I’m disappointed and I am very sorry for the student body," said GM candidate William Bobrowski. "They have made the choice yet again … to choose the status quo, to choose the student government which will do nothing, which will go nowhere, which will accomplish nothing."
Supporting the viewpoint, PU candidate Mark Anderson said, "I’d like to quote my civics teacher and say, ‘The students get the government that they deserve.’ "
Andrea Barreiro, vice-chair of the Pygmalion Party—the party that ran Bobrowski and Anderson as candidates—noted, "Will Bobrowski is the best Grand Marshal candidate to appear on this campus in the last five years since I’ve been here, and it’s such a pity that the student body could not appreciate that."
The election announcements, made to the charged audience that packed itself into the Rathskellar, capped off what many percieve as another successful GM Week.
"I thought that this year Matt Light and the GM Committee, RNE, etc. ... they did a really exceptional job," said Rick Hartt, director of the Rensselaer Union. "People seemed to have a good time. I thought that was very positive."
"The excitement’s in the air," said outgoing PU Lucas Johnson. He said the end of his term was accompanied by mixed feelings. "In some ways, I’m happy to see it. In other ways, I’m sad to see it."
The announcement ceremony followed the GM Week parade—newly revived for this year.
"Let’s hope that this is a tradition we bring back with strength every year here on out," said Greco.
Despite the stormy weather Friday afternoon, there was fairly a large turnout for the parade. "Rain or shine, we’re going to march," said ROTC Cadet Carlo Alberto Nardone.
The ROTC’s color guard, FIJI’s scale-model float of FIJI island—symbolizing a planned trip to the island—and Pikes’ antique red fire engine with working horn highlighted the procession that traveled from RAHPs to the Rensselaer Union.
