DeFalco-Hemme Administration Becomes Second-Ever All-Female Ticket to Win Marist Election

Newly-elected Student Body President Amanda DeFalco ‘24 (right) and Vice President Mia Hemme ‘24 (left). Photo by Hannah Tone ‘26.

For only the second time in campus history, an all-female ticket will lead the Student Government Association. Amanda DeFalco ‘24 and Mia Hemme ‘24 have been elected to serve as the new Student Body President and Vice President, beginning their administration at the end of the semester. 

Running a tight race against competitors Keziah Franks ‘24 and Evan Spillane ‘25, DeFalco and Hemme had a long few weeks between meeting prospective voters, petitioning for signatures, creating social media graphics and, of course, buying candy.

“All we did was run around,” said Hemme. According to her, this was one of the lengthiest campaigning periods the school has faced.

Since campaigning was not permitted during spring break, “grind time” began with speech and debate nights, but ramped up during the voting period, which was this past Tuesday through Thursday. 

“You really learn how to talk to people and keep their attention when you are constantly walking up to strangers and starting conversations,” said Hemme. 

Because candidates are not given a vote count during the voting period, they are forced to campaign until the results are announced. However, the team agreed that if they had known about an early jump start, then they would have been too comfortable for the rest of the voting period. 

As for speech and debate night, Hemme and DeFalco did their preparation separately, which “spoke a lot to how [they] work.” 

Right off the bat, the two plan to collaborate with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board (DEI), work on lowering tuition costs, become more communicative with all the departments and schools and helping SGA become as transparent as possible. 

“We feel like a lot of the community isn’t aware of all that SGA does, and we want to change that as soon as possible,” said Hemme. 

DeFalco and Hemme will be spending a lot of their upcoming weeks with the current Bourbon-Lee administration, with the official swearing-in ceremony to occur towards the end of April. 

“We didn’t just say things to get people to vote for us,” said DeFalco. As advertised throughout their campaign, this administration plans to make SGA more accessible to students where no one should be worried to walk into the office. 

In addition, Hemme has strong goals to talk to the deans of every school regarding excused mental health days. DeFalco, on the other hand, is looking forward to working on issues regarding the dining hall; these include food insecurity, extending dining hall hours, and making different types of food more accessible to students and staff.

DeFalco and Hemme both agree that the previous organization was very successful, especially in regard to Resident Assistant compensation and student concern collection. They both look forward to expanding on both of these accomplishments. 

“We are very excited and thankful to everyone who voted. Every vote really does count,” said Hemme.