With the seniors leaving, the time has come for the Student Government Association’s (SGA) new presidential cabinet. This past year, Larry Zhan ‘25 was an important part of the Germantown Academy community as he served as SGA president, alongside vice president Andreas Szautner ‘26 and secretary Gabriel Meinstein ‘26.
As Zhan moves on to college, the SGA is undergoing various changes in its leadership positions, and for the upcoming 2025 to 2026 school year, Szautner was elected as SGA president, with Meinstein as vice president and Sophia Song ‘27 as secretary.
The elected students will take on various responsibilities throughout the school, from planning and organizing different events to coordinating new policies while collaborating with Mr. Steven Moll, Upper School Dean of Students, and Mr. David Samson, Head of Upper School.
For our new presidential cabinet members, SGA has a lot of meaning to them, and many are committed to running for a more selective role in hopes of being able to make a more meaningful impact on GA.
“I definitely say my motives have changed after realizing I do enjoy an elected position, and it’s really turned into a little bit of mentorship within SGA,” Meinstein said.
In the new year, SGA hopes to include more of the GA student body into the system of organizing changes to GA policies and events. In order to do so, the new cabinet members suggest multiple ideas.
“I think having a more virtual form, and people can upvote things, so people can post something,” Szautner said. “And then they can open the platform and they can see and you can like different things, different initiatives.”
Song also expresses her hopes for the effort in suggested ideas from students to be pushed through. She mentions working with the GA faculty more to ensure communication between students, SGA, and staff members for better reform ideas and connections within all of GA.
“There’s a lot of reforms and improvements that I envision for the organization,” Song said. “[Like] streamlining the student body to SGA communication through house reps and the Upper School TVs, or making each SGA meeting much more efficient with a clear agenda.”
SGA has also coordinated a lot of collaborative activities across the school division. They hope to continue this kind of bond for the following year.
“Things that are going to make the community a more joyful place and a more connected place is something that I’ve enjoyed witnessing and hope to do more of in the future,” Ms. May said.
There are also various challenges that SGA hopes to tackle, such as unifying the organization better. Szautner hopes to make changes by being more encouraging and inclusive to other members, especially now as president.
“[I] want to make committees a little bit smaller and have it harder to take a back seat in meetings,” Szautner said. “That might be a challenge to get people to open up and speak a little bit more.”
Next year’s cabinet is filled with individuals who plan on upholding the student body’s ideas and strengthening connections within the GA community. Szautner, Song, and Meinstein will demonstrate their leadership and team collaboration skills as they work to achieve the goals they planned.