Students elected B-CC sophomore Eric Guerci as the new Student Member of the Board and Selvi Ulusan as Whitman’s Student Body President April 29. Guerci defeated Richard Montgomery junior Rachit Agarwal, winning 52 percent of the vote. For Whitman’s SGA, Joe Wiedemann (Vice President), Carly Choppin (Treasurer) and Katie Meyer and Kueho Choi (secretaries) will join Ulusan on the Executive Board.

“I am beyond honored to have been selected as your next SMOB,” Guerci said. “This is the start of a new journey for next year, and I can’t wait to get it started.”

As the SMOB, he will have certain voting rights on the Board of Education and represent student interests among county officials. He will earn a $5,000 college scholarship and 250 SSL hours, according to the MCPS Student Affairs Office.

Guerci’s platform includes reduced class sizes, more technology use in school, changes to grading policies and turf fields at every high school.

Both candidates campaigned vigorously for the elections and were present on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to share their views. In addition to creating personal websites, Guerci and Agarwal also visited various middle and high schools around the county to speak to students in person.

Although Agarwal wanted a different outcome, he is proud of his campaign and gained valuable experience from it, he said.

“I learned a lot from different students and grew stronger as a person,” Agarwal said. “I know [Eric] will do great things and I hope to work with him in the future.”

Although Guerci won the support of the county as a whole, many Whitman students were less than satisfied.

This year’s SMOB is more important than in previous years because of the impending search for the new superintendent, junior Ethan Sorcher said. He added that he thought Agarwal was a better choice than Guerci because of his additional year of experience involved in student government.

Despite varied reactions among students, Guerci wishes to mend the Whitman-B-CC rivalry.

“I know that I go to B-CC, but I really honestly love the Whitman community,” he said. “They’re really well respected and really awesome.”

Selecting a candidate for president was not difficult, even with four other contenders running, sophomore Izzy Robinson said.

“I voted for Selvi because she has really great intentions and is highly capable of doing progressive things for Whitman,” Robinson said. “She cares more about the community than how her service makes her look, in contrast to other candidates.”

Sophomore Jonah Eisenberg voted for Ulusan because she is an advocate for LGBT issues which need to be better addressed, he said.

While Ulusan has plans to create new school events and to raise awareness on important subjects, like LGBT issues, a fundamental aspect of her presidency will be community outreach and involving students in her decisions.

“This experience has taught me to listen to students,” Ulusan said. “If you take the time to ask if anyone has any concerns or ideas for the upcoming year, many people have so many ideas that I can expand on and execute.”