The student body has elected its Student Council officers for the 2026-27 school year. Renee You and Bryan Zhao will serve as co-presidents. Massi Sheinin will serve as vice president.
Current Student Council leaders Luke Chon, Julisa Lugo and Victor Tse announced the results during Friday Chapel.
The announcement comes one day after the co-president online vote and one week after the vice president online vote.
In previous years, both elections have been held on the same day. According to Mr. Wriede, the faculty advisor for Student Council, this departure from tradition was due to low candidate turnout.
“Generally, we do all speeches for co-pres and VP the first week, have a primary election to get it down to six Co-Pres and three VP candidates. The second week is then the town hall format with both VP and Co-Pres on stage,” he explained, “but it all would have been on one day.”
In past years, co-president and vice president candidates have taken the stage at the same time. Because there were only four candidates for each position this year, the decision was made to split up the panels across two weeks. In Mr. Wriede’s opinion, this gave each candidate more time.
He continued, “In the past, we have had over a dozen people run for either office but the past two years have been very small numbers.”
During the town halls, which were held during Community Meeting slots, candidates gave individual speeches to the juniors, sophomores and freshmen. Current seniors on Student Council then asked them questions. For the vice president candidate meeting, a form that took audience questions was emailed to the underclassmen.
While You and Zhao have served as class representatives for all three years, Sheinin will be joining Student Council for the first time in his new appointment. “I’m super excited!” he said of the prospect. “I am so honored that my peers at Peddie deemed me fit to be their VP. They all trusted me, so I will strive to excel in the new role.”
You has also been elected head representative every year, a position given to the candidate with the most votes and one that includes a spot on the Faculty Student Senate. Now, she feels ready to take the next step.
“I felt honored and grateful that my peers trusted me to become their Co-President for the next school year,” You said. “I’m super excited to help make our Peddie experience even stronger. Through patience, communication and commitment, I’m ready to take on a new responsibility with Bryan and Massi.”
In his candidate statement, Zhao expressed his desire to improve communication between the administration and student government. His vision includes having grade representatives work on a specific initiative each term and publishing details in a newsletter at the end of a term.
Zhao also hopes to improve funding and attendance for school clubs. “I believe [clubs] offer some of the most valuable experiences at Peddie,” he wrote. “Next year, I would like to dedicate one of the student center bulletin boards exclusively to club advertisements and create a grant request program so clubs that need additional funding can apply for and secure it.”
You considers focusing on realistic goals to be an important part of serving on Student Council. She believes extending WiFi privileges is one such achievable change.
“Changing the WiFi policy on Friday gold nights is something I brought up in a Faculty Student Senate meeting and [am] hoping to implement as soon as possible,” she stated in her candidate statement. “I don’t see why the WiFi on Friday gold nights should be any different from a Saturday blue night.”
Sheinin sees improved communication with Peddie Food Service (PFS) as an avenue to increasing school spirit and enthusiasm. His ideas include a meal review form that will inform PFS of student feedback on dining hall meals and a system that facilitates anonymous meal requests.
“Everybody remembers the feeling of eating a great meal: joyful,” he wrote in his candidate statement.
As for Zhao, he hopes his co-presidency will be defined by courage.
“Being elected by my peers means the world to me, and I’m excited to continue serving the school as co-president! I hope that by being myself and being courageous, I can inspire others to do the same,” he said.
