Elections for the two first-year reps on the Executive Committee occurred over the weekend with Tetsushiro (Tetsu) Konishi and Laurie Duncan being voted in by Members.
At St Margaret's, nine Members are elected in the preceding year including a President and Vice-President. Once new Members have settled in the following year, the two first-year reps - one female and one male - can be elected after a democratic election campaign.
On Saturday, 14 April, the seven candidates who put themselves forward for first-year reps this year, including Tetsu and Laurie, made presentations to Members in the Valentine Common Room in the final stage of the election campaign. Voting opened at dinner time on Saturday and the results made known at about 7 pm.
Laurie, an Arts and Law student from Blenheim, says she is enjoying the subtle freedoms that living at St Margaret's is giving her, "like having as many hot chocolates as I want, but the people at Marg's top the cake in terms of life here. A few things I am passionate about are understanding people, making sure people are represented (we do live in a democracy after all) and I do quite enjoy smiles and winning a healthy debate."
Konishi is a Health Sciences First Year student from Auckland, enjoys long walks by the beach at night and sunsets, and loves to play sports (he played soccer for the St Margaret's team on Saturday morning). Konishi says that "After coming down to Dunedin, I have really come to consider St Margaret's my home and it has been amazing to meet people from both New Zealand and around the world!"
The College warmly congratulates Laurie and Tetsu on their election, and looks forward to their contribution on the 2018 Members' Executive Committee.
(Story by the Master, Dr Charles Tustin)
