Every year a key part of NJCL Convention is the election of new officers. Leadership is a core attribute of our organization, and through elections JCL delegates choose the people who will lead and plan next year’s convention, contributing to the JCL’s tradition of student-centered involvement.
This year’s election season formally began in fine NJCL fashion with Nominations Committee with 14 prefiled candidates. The offices of Editor, First Vice President, and President were in states of emergency, with only one prefiled candidate for each of those positions — Shreyas Karnam of California, Srushti Gudipati of Tennessee, and Olivia Chen of Massachusetts, respectively. Devyn Peterson of Alabama ended the state of emergency for Editor by running from the floor for that position, raising the total number of candidates to 15. There were two prefiled historian candidates: Bani Gourab of Maryland and Eloise Ogden of South Carolina. For the office of parliamentarian, the two prefiled candidates were Sarah Pati of Illinois and Elijah Brown of Indiana. Four candidates — Angela Wu of Georgia, Cecil Gregg of Virginia, Maia Johnson of Maine, and Emily Cai of Wisconsin — prefiled for the office of Communications Coordinator. Three prefiled for Second Vice President: Aurelia Shaitelman of Texas, Manuel Cantillo of Ohio, and Ryan Szymanski of Florida.
After their name was called, each candidate came to the stage to deliver a brief speech. Once the Nominations Committee meeting concluded, candidates stayed behind to have their photos taken and to answer some questions for the Convention Ear. Following this, they had dinner together to get to know one another better.
Campaigning began in earnest later that evening and the following morning. Candidates went to social events, agora and various contests to hand out flyers and discuss their proposals and qualifications with prospective voters. Many candidates had props and small knicknacks that they handed out, and many also passed out QR codes for their campaign websites.
Candidates officially introduced themselves to all the JCLers in attendance at GA III, where each gave a short speech introducing themselves and their platform. Campaigning recommenced afterwards, and delegates who wanted to learn more about candidates’ platforms had a chance to ask questions at Meet the Candidates. The election cycle for this year concluded with Open Forum the following morning, where candidates responded to prepared questions from each of the 2025-2026 NJCL Officers.
Questions ranged from the broad (applying to the entire group) to more specific ones about the intricacies of each office; they also straddled serious and more fun topics (e.g., asking candidates what food they would want to turn into), allowing delegates to get to know candidates better as people beyond their JCL involvement. After the officers asked their questions, voting delegates were able to submit questions of their own.
Following Open Forum, states met for Voting Fellowship, where they could discuss the candidates and make their final decisions. Each state that sent two delegates to Nominations Committee and at least ten percent of its delegation to Open Forum received two votes, except for states with only one member, which received only one vote.
Candidates met privately before GA IV to learn the results of voting. At GA IV each NJCL officer came up to the podium to announce their successor: Editor Shreyas Karnam, Historian Bani Gourab, Parliamentarian Sarah Pati, Communications Coordinator Angela Wu, Aurelia Shaitelman for Second Vice President, Srushti Gudipati for First Vice President, and Olivia Chen for President.
Committee election results were also announced: Theri Andino of Virginia was elected as Certamen Chair, Maddie Deitrich was elected as Graphic Arts Chair, Seth Knowles of Maine was elected as Convention Advisor, Christopher Rourke of North Carolina was re-elected as Communications Chair. The office of Vice Chair will be filled by Zach Mair of Florida, and Todd Wegenhart of Ohio will continue to serve as Committee Chair.
Finally, the 2025-2026 SCL Board consists of Editor Lucas Colson of Florida, Historian Reesey Lai of Virginia and Connecticut, Parliamentarian Alden Okoh-Aduako of South Carolina and Connecticut, Treasurer Nic Collier of Indiana and Hawaii, Secretary Allie Kratochvil of Wisconsin, Vice-President Jameson Sheehy of South Carolina, and President Jake Presson of Indiana.