Senior Caucus Coverage 2022

Hanson He and Gitae Park

RECORD: The He-Park ticket has considerable and diverse experience in leadership positions. He has led several small clubs in his time at Stuyvesant which he believes will help him develop deeper relationships with students, and Park has been involved with caucus since freshman year, serving as Chief of Staff and Chief Financial Officer. Both have run for caucus in previous years, albeit separately.

DYNAMIC: He and Park have a great working balance and complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. While Park is more comfortable with behind-the-scenes work, He contributes to the public speaking component of their campaign. They have an effective working chemistry that has grown stronger over their three years at Stuyvesant.

PLATFORM: He and Park have big goals in mind. Instead of proposing a multitude of small events as seen in other caucus tickets, their policies focus on creating large-scale change in the student government and caucus system, eliminating the hierarchy to establish a more efficient and inclusive system. They believe they have a unique approach to the college readiness process that proposes an earlier start to planning and hope to institute an Olympics-themed grade-wide competition.

Samantha Farrow and Arlette Duran

RECORD: The Duran-Farrow ticket has more than sufficient leadership experience to serve the student body. Duran is the student equity leader for Manhattan Schools, the Vice President of ASPIRA, and a cheer captain. Farrow is on the chancellor student advisory council, is a PR officer for Stuy Girl Up, and served as a co-leader for RISE.

DYNAMIC: Duran and Farrow have ample chemistry, frequently finishing each other’s sentences and complementing each other’s ideas. The two seem to be a natural team, and they would be unlikely to suffer from interpersonal friction with either each other or with their staff.

PLATFORM: The Duran-Farrow ticket’s motto is “fly like an arrow”—a portmanteau of Duran’s first name and Farrow’s last name. The ticket is grounded in the principle of inclusivity, particularly in regards to being receptive to “all ideas and opinions.” Duran and Farrow place a higher emphasis on making a memorable senior year and encouraging senior camaraderie than reshaping the mold of student government. For example, the ticket plans to organize a graduation party (“BachelorX”) separate from prom at a more affordable price. The ticket also plans on organizing a senior trip and on repainting the senior bar to make it more specialized to the Class of 2023. Other proposals include senior movie nights at actual theaters, no-cut talent shows at the end of every marking period, and weekly college essay workshops after school. The Duran and Farrow ticket’s proposals echo what their platform is centered around—inclusivity—but falls short in a tangible breakdown of how these proposals would be implemented.

Venus Wan and Alexander Lopez

Note: This ticket had an unfair early access to the endorsements results and may have modified their policies as a result.

RECORD: Lopez has been Chief of Staff for Sophomore Caucus and a Student Campaign Manager for their media team. Wan will be a volleyball captain next year and does not have any prior experience in student government.

DYNAMIC: Lopez and Wan have known each other since freshman year when they met at Camp Stuy. They have a good relationship with each other; they believe that they can confide in each other and hold each other accountable. Wan and Lopez believe in a balance of work to favor their respective strengths so that one person can cover if the other is less experienced in that subject.

PLATFORM: The Wan-Lopez ticket wants to make the Stuyvesant community stronger than ever through their two pillars, readiness and uplifting. Readiness will follow the norm of college readiness, in addition to AP and finals study guides, while uplifting involves drawing more attention to different organizations at Stuyvesant, such as Spectrum or student-run shows like STC and SOS. They have split the year into the two semesters, with each semester holding multiple events, and the funds raised at many of these events will be used to lower the price for prom at the end of the year.

Hana Glanz and Roxana Gosfield

Note: This ticket had an unfair early access to the endorsements results and may have modified their policies as a result.

RECORD: The Glanz-Gos ticket has some experience in student government and leadership. Gosfield was the Vice President in her elementary school and has taken part in local government-related internships. She was also a camp counselor and has experience with leading and planning events. While Glanz does not have any prominent leadership positions in student government, she was the cello section leader in her middle school’s orchestra, and she often helps plan events within her friend group. Both are involved in peer leadership.

DYNAMIC: The two seem to work well together, given that they are close friends and share the same friend group. Gos and Glanz plan to share responsibilities as co-presidents, in terms of both working with planning events and addressing the issues at Stuy.

PLATFORM: The Gos-Glanz ticket is focused mainly on promoting mental health and reforming academic policies. Their focus revolves around creating a stress-relieving and fun senior year that they believe the senior class deserves.

Ameer Alnasser and Mirza Faruq

RECORD: Both Alnasser and Faruq have served as members of the Junior Caucus. Alnasser is currently a Big Sib, as well as a member of the Muslim Students Association, while Faruq has previously worked with political campaigns in the city outside of Stuyvesant.

DYNAMIC: Alnasser and Faruq seem to have a comfortable dynamic, with Alnasser as more of a facilitator and Faruq as a mediator. The duo is expressive and does not hesitate to speak their minds, something they believe will be useful in working with both the administration and caucus members. The Alnasser-Faruq ticket’s emphasis on inclusivity is apparent in their own dynamic, as they express that grudges or personal troubles will never overshadow their relationship, allowing them to work well together.

PLATFORM: The Alnasser-Faruq ticket emphasizes transparency, inclusivity, and openness, and they have split their ideas for Senior Caucus into two categories: targets and goals. Some of their targets include plans to hold senior bonding events, mainly during second semester, along with providing students with more resources, whether that be for mental health or for college applications. In regards to goals, Alnasser and Faruq hope to push for more communication between the student body and administration about everything from the homework policy to the affordability of senior prom to more gender-neutral restrooms. Though Alnasser-Faruq hold general enthusiasm for their proposed policies, their desire to have more student-centered events, introduce a senior trip, and reform the homework policy lacks overall originality and depends far too much on temporary compromises, rather than on the potential for well-rooted change.