Every year a new student body president is elected by the student body. Each student running for student body president makes a speech to the Upper School student body, and then a Google form is sent out for the student body to vote. If there is too close of an election, everyone will vote between the top two people. Then, the person with the most votes will be the new student body president for the next year. Attached are the results of the election and polls from each round.
Atlas Kosedag is our current president and he announced from the votes that next school year our Darlington student body President will be Toby Burns. He has attended Darlington since 2017 and is currently a Neville Day Leader, in Y Cabinet and in the student activities committee. Burns wants to help make a change around school.
“There are a lot of things that I wanted to see change, and I had heard people talk about stuff. Also, I like seeing what Atlas has done this year, for example, bringing Light the Lake back and the community service is really cool,” Burns said.
Kosedag shares how he made the community a better place and what he wished happened while he was President.
“I feel like having fewer things on my plate would have allowed me to accomplish more as a president. However, I still think that we accomplished quite a bit and that my goal of strengthening Darlington’s community was achieved,” Kosedag said.
Burns wants to benefit and make changes for both the day and dorm students. He explains that making more events for students to connect is important.
“The first-year borders would have someone to connect with and help them out because it can be scary, especially your first year,” Burns said. “Having fun events scheduled for the day and boarding students to get together. Also, another change would be if you go to a certain number of sporting events, you can get free dress days so that people will go watch because I think athletic support is very important.”
Kosedag agrees with Burns’ idea to reward students with a free dress for those who attend sporting events.
“I hope that he can bring back where students can attend athletic events and cheer on their peers and get a Tiger Day as a result,” Kosedag said. “This will encourage students to become more involved in athletic events on campus.”
It is also important for the student body’s voice to be heard, and Burns explains his idea to make sure ideas and concerns will be heard.
“Many surveys will be sent out, and in the Student Council meetings representatives from each of the classes can present problems, and figuring out a way for people to suggest ideas is really important,” Burns said.
Being the Student Body President can be a difficult responsibility, and time management is very important in the position.
“I hope that Toby can do a better job of balancing his responsibilities than I did,” Kosedag said. “Being the Student Body President is not easy, and one should dedicate a good bit of time to ensure they can accomplish what they want.”