After a year of student initiative, events and activities, it has come time for the student body to elect new officers to serve the 2026-2027 school year. As Szautner and Meinstein prepare for graduation, students Sophia Song ‘27, Abraham Genkin ‘28 and Simran Kamal-Bahl ‘28 prepare to hold the office as GA’s President, Vice President and Secretary.
The elected officers take responsibility for jobs such as organizing and planning student events, promoting the student voice and updating policy. The cabinet directly works with Mr. David Samson, Head of the Upper School, and Mr. Steve Moll, Upper School Dean of Students.
When asked what motivated them to run for office, each officer shared their goals to improve the community and increase student involvement.
“At the end of the day, I just really wanted to help my community in any way I could,” Genkin said. “I think that there were some crucial improvements that could be made to [the] higher office and SGA as a whole.”
She explained that her goal in running for president was to “make my own changes and improvements and my own impact to that community.”
Kamal-Bahl shared a similar perspective, discussing the importance of hearing more student perspectives within the school community.
“What really motivated me is giving a voice to everyone,” Kamal-Bahl said. “The change I really want to make is having more student input… so everyone in our community has a say in the changes we’re making.”
The officers also had representation within this year’s cabinet. Genkin noted that it has been uncommon in recent years to see a primarily female cabinet leading SGA. “I just wanted to give both of you your praise for that,” Genkin said to Song and Kamal-Bahl during the interview.
Looking towards next year, the cabinet shared several goals and initiatives they hope to implement. One focus is strengthening school spirit and student life through new community-building events. Song mentioned ideas such as an international food festival during community time, aimed at celebrating the diversity within the GA community and bringing students together through culture and food. The cabinet also discussed creating more engaging student-versus-faculty activities during community time to encourage interaction between students and teachers outside of the classroom setting.
In addition, the officers hope to create more memorable experiences for upperclassmen, including ideas such as a senior bonfire and expanded senior activities throughout the year.
“Our goal as a cabinet,” Song said, “is to not just use our ideas, but hear other people’s ideas and work on implementing them.”
Another priority for the cabinet is increasing communication and transparency between SGA and the student body. Kamal-Bahl explained that the group hopes to gather consistent student feedback through surveys attached to morning meeting memos and through recap videos highlighting SGA initiatives and campus activities.
Genkin added that the videos could feature “sports interviews, club interviews, just fun stuff that also highlights what’s happening at GA.”
Beyond introducing new initiatives, the cabinet also hopes to support students academically and emotionally throughout the school year.
“We really, crucially, want to decrease student stress in any way possible,” Genkin said. “We understand how difficult the workload of GA can be, and we want to do whatever we can… to minimize that while also continuing the academic flourishing of GA.”
With the 2025-2026 academic year drawing to a close, the newly appointed cabinet prepare themselves to undertake the responsibility of being SGA officers.