In a year of exceptionally high voter turnout, Thursday’s run-off elections declared Jake Oken-Berg ’02 next year’s ASPC President. Cristina Francisco ’02 was elected Senior Class President.

All of the other races were determined by Tuesday’s primary vote. The winners include Michio Brunner ’02, ASPC Vice President; Scott LaBoda ’03, Academic Affairs Commissioner; Liz Fasse ’02, Campus Events Commissioner; Dru Hilty ’02, Communications Commissioner; Supriya Patel ’04, Community Affairs Commissioner; Andrew Cvitanovich ’02, Environmental Affairs Commissioner; Michael Rush ’04, Residence Halls and Food Commissioner; and Evan Sirc ’03, Sports Commissioner.

Nick Cope Winners Oken-Berg, Brunner, Sirc, LaBoda, Cvitanovich, Patel, and Hilty.

Sahar Rooholamini ’01 was chosen as this year’s comencement speaker, and Vik Patel ’01 as the class day speaker.

"I was really impressed with the level that the campaign ran," Oken-berg said. "Sam and I both ran a great campaign as far as the academic experience. One of the things I want to do is sit down with all the new senators right away. There were some great ideas that people ran on, and I want to make sure they are enacted."

As Community Affairs Commissioner, Community Affairs Commissioner Patel hopes to use this upcoming year to further student participation in volunteer programs.

"I also want to increase use of the Volunteer Office," Patel said. "There’s so much there that students don’t know about."

As Communications Commissioner, Hilty hopes to improve the student website and work toward cable access for all residence halls.

In the upcoming year, new Campus Events Commissioner Fasse hopes to bring more bands to campus, as well as to get more students involved in CCLA.

Several winners noted the quality of this year’s election speeches and campaign flyers.

"I thought people made an effort to write quality speeches that addressed real issues," Sirc said. "It seems like people put more thought into them, and the flyers seemed to combine wit with real campaign promises."

Sirc hopes to use his position as Sports Commissioner to improve the quality of athletic events offered at Pomona. This includes gaining students access to more professional sporting events throughout southern California, as well as improving student participation in intramural sports.

According to Miller, election rules were changed to allow candidates a budget of $15 for campaign publicity, up from the previous $10. Candidates cited this as an advantage, and some commented on the importance of publicity in any election.

All candidates stressed the importance of individual votes in this year’s elections, and wanted to thank those who voted for them.

"A lot of the races were really close, by 20 or so votes," Brunner said. "Every vote really does count."

ASPC Elections Supervisor Wells Miller ’01 noted the high voter turnout in this year’s election. "I printed about 800 ballots for the general election and we used at least 600 of them. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s a lot for Pomona College."