Students elected junior Liam Marshall of Sea Girt as president of the 2018-2019 SGA and junior Emma Hecht of Wall as vice president on Tuesday, May 15. The council includes sophomores Liam Jamolod of Howell, Evan Kuo of Tinton Falls and Dane Tedder of Ocean.

Marshall was one of 12 candidates who ran for a position. Eight ran for council and four ran for executive.

Prior to the election, students met the candidates on May 10 in the cafeteria. Candidates shared their policies and handed out snacks, stickers and other items to gain students’ interest.

After exploring different styles, Marshall said that he found communication to be the best campaign strategy.

“Really getting yourself out there, even if you’re just handing out a little treat or a sticker, and talking to people is the best way,” Marshall said.

With four males and one female, sophomore Abbey Reisler of Ocean said that the female to male ratio shocked her at first, but she is confident in the new council.

“I was originally surprised,” Reisler said. “But I have a lot of faith in those who were elected. They all have great experience and will do amazing things for this school.”

The 2017-2018 SGA worked with the new members during Color Wars and will continue to collaborate through the end of the school year to ease the transition, said SGA adviser and science teacher Leah Morgan.

“The current council has an opportunity to teach the incoming council some of the basics and that makes the transition easy for me,” Morgan said.

Current SGA President and senior Jackie Geller of Manalapan said she is sad to say goodbye to her time on SGA, but hopes that the new council will enjoy it just as much as she did.

“After being on SGA for two years, I can say that planning can be very stressful at times,” Geller said. “Nonetheless, the members should enjoy every second of it.”

Marshall said he is ready to put all of his focus into SGA and give CHS one of its best years yet.

“Now that I’ve been elected, I’m ready to learn, listen, and work with the new council members. I’m so excited!”