Latifa Al-Mohdar ’18, Senior Class President
Hometown:
Ann Arbor, Michigan. My favorite thing about it is the large Middle Eastern community inside the city and in the cities around it.
Major:
Economics
Why SGA?
I joined SGA because I wanted to represent the senior class because of my involvements on campus (numerous!) and my close relationships with many seniors. I ran while studying abroad, so I didn’t manage to campaign very thoroughly. It was thus by word of mouth that most of my campaigning was done.
Main duties:
For the fall, organize events that cater to the graduating seniors (e.g. pub crawls, lecture series on entering the real world, etc.). For the spring, organize Senior Week, 100 Days and Senior Ball, and speak at Commencement as well as participate in other commencement events.
Plans after Smith:
To be determined, but I plan to enter the world of finance.
Bri Barrett ’19, Junior Class President
Hometown:
Jackson, NJ
Major:
Study of Women and Gender major, Africana Studies minor
Why SGA?:
I joined SGA because I always want to help make the communities that I am apart of better, and I felt that I could do that even more through joining SGA. Running for election as Junior Class President was pretty easy. The candidates were myself and abstain so it was not a stressful process.
Main duties:
Run the Junior Class Cabinet and with their help plan events for the Junior Class. I also attend weekly Cabinet meetings with the larger SGA Cabinet and sometimes attend Senate meetings. I have a couple of potential post Smith plans.
Plans after Smith:
I want to go to graduate school, law school or both and eventually get a Ph.D. Another dream/idea that I’m trying to figure out if I’m going to pursue is after Smith doing a Professional Training Program somewhere where I can focus intensely on my dancing and try to dance professionally. If I did this, I would go to graduate school and/or law school after and go into a different career from there (I have started thinking about going into academia and working in higher education, either as a professor or as an administrator, but who knows). I’m still trying to figure things out. SGA has made me want to pursue a career where I can make a positive impact on people even more than I did before. It has helped me learn how to think differently and consider even more about how carrying out an idea can impact different groups of people in an entire community. I was able to think in this way before but being apart of SGA has allowed me to put this way of thinking into practice more frequently.
Rita Flournoy ’AC, Ada Class President
Hometown:
Chicago, IL. My favorite thing about Chicago is the incredible work that is being done on the city by groups like BYP 100, Black Lives Matter Chicago and Assata’s Daughters. Everything from education to community gardens and youth leadership development it a part of the city a lot of people don’t know or get to see, there is amazing radical loving work going on the ground.
Major:
Government with a Community Engagement Social Change Concentration
Why SGA?:
I’ve only been at Smith for about a year but after meeting a lot of my classmates they felt that I was someone who could do this job, by my second semester as Secretary, I was being asked to run for President by my peers. [Running for election was] pretty straightforward, I let everyone know I would be running and my classmates expressed excitement, appreciation, and overwhelming support. It’s just Smithies and especially Adas are so busy [that] I had to constantly remind them to vote! It got so bad right after greeting folx they would inform me that yes they had indeed voted. I didn’t want to win by default, I only wanted to become President if people read my biography or heard of me and were interested in letting me represent them.
Main duties:
As President of the Ada Class I first of all make myself extremely accessible, I am always in Hopkins lounge studying with my classmates, or in the living room of 150 Elm I try my best to be visible. I collaborate with administration to find pathways of restructuring to assist Adas in the long run. Being a representative I choose mostly to express what has been expressed to me, even if that means putting my own agendas on the wayside. My duty is to work to ensure the Adas are included in all Smith has to offer, and extending the communities knowledge of not the Ada Program but Adas, who we are, why we’re here and why you should look forward to having us in your classrooms, on your teams and on your campus.
Plans after Smith:
Who knows? There’s always Washington, D.C, perhaps a Ph.D, but eventually I will be returning to community organizing in Chicago and run for local office.
Has SGA influenced your studies or ambitions?
As a Government major there’s not much new to student governing bodies, I am however interested in what governing could look like in an extremely non-traditional manner, what better place to attempt such a feat than within my class cabinet? What does a governing body with flattened hierarchies look like?
