With a new wave of freshmen starting to get into the swing of things this year comes a new wave of freshman Student Senators at Waynesburg University.

The election for the freshman Student Senators was held last week and the results were sent out via an email from Mary Woessner, administrative assistant of student services, and Lachlan Loudon, executive vice president of Student Senate and chairman of Waynesburg University student elections committee. 

“Freshman Senators: Kaylee Boll, Rachel Kail, Jason Polgar, Anna Rape,” the email said. “Thank you to all the students and candidates who participated in this election.”

The election was held across the span of a few days. Only freshmen could come to a tent set up in Johnson Commons to vote for their representatives. 

“This election was only for the freshman class, so we could only receive votes from other freshmen,” said Loudon. “Freshmen joining the Senate will be able to handle some of the responsibilities we have had to bear with these first few weeks. In the Polling Committee, we can have freshmen give input on polling ideas from a new student perspective.”

This election allowed the freshmen to gain experience with campaigning before the major Student Senate elections in the spring.

 “While they don’t have much Senate experience coming in, this is an opportunity for them to learn and develop leadership skills while also possibly running for re-election in the spring,” Loudon said. “They can also run for an executive board position after a year of Senate experience.”

According to Student Senate president Luke Diel, once the winning students are sworn into the Senate they can start working. “The newly elected freshmen will be on the committee next Tuesday,” Diel said. “That is when they will get their committee assignments.”

Loudon also expressed how quickly these freshmen will get to work. 

“Freshmen Senators have the opportunity to participate in delegation as soon as they are sworn in. They get to join one of the three committees and immediately go to work. The freshmen will report to all Senate meetings and vote on Senate business each week,” he said.With only four open seats offered to the freshman, there were only four students that ran for election, and these winners will serve until re-election in the spring. 

“In the spring our big election, so this one is only for the freshmen,” Diel said. “We had four freshmen on the ballot and there were four seats and four people ran.”

With the fall semester of 2021 up and running, so are the newly elected freshmen Student Senators.