The 16th Assembly of the University Park Undergraduate Association met virtually Wednesday night for its first meeting under new leadership.

There, Erin Boas and Najee Rodriguez were sworn in as president and vice president, respectively. Zach McKay, UPUA’s former president, congratulated the new assembly and wished representatives well

Boas then gave her first report as president. She echoed what McKay said and thanked the outgoing administration for their help in making it a smooth transition into the 16th Assembly.

Rodriguez followed, recognizing the struggles that each member has gone through to get to this point. He also outlined the rules that will be followed for the elections that will occur later in the meeting.

Here’s how those elections went:

Speaker Of The Assembly

The first internal election of the night was for Speaker of the Assembly, and the two nominees were Cathy Zhou and Sydney Gibbard. Zhou went first, and she shared her vulnerabilities about joining UPUA and how she became more comfortable with the organization. She then outlined all of her goals should she get the position. Gibbard followed, talking about her experience and what she is going to bring to the position.

Gibbard won the election.

Committee Chairs

The first committee chair election was for Academic Affairs. Lewis Richardson was the only nominee for the position, which he unsuccessfully ran for in the last assembly. He harped on his previous experience within the Academic Affairs Committee as the main reason why he would be successful. He won the election.

The second committee chair election was for Facilities, which was once again an uncontested race. Cara Fliegel was the only nominee, and she talked about her focus being sustainability and how she would want to make UPUA a more sustainable organization. She won the election.

Next up was the chair election for Governmental Affairs. Like the previous two elections, it was uncontested and the only nominee was Lakyn Meeder. Meeder talked about how passionate she was about civic engagement and how this committee was one of the main reasons she joined UPUA in the first place. She won the election.

Another chair, another uncontested election. This time, Aarathi Kallur ran for the Justice and Equity chair. She listed initiatives that she would like to see completed during her time as chair as well as initiatives that she would like to lay the groundwork for assemblies in the future. She won the election.

The final chair election of the evening was for Student Life. Sam Browne was the uncontested nominee, talking about how her experience in being a part of a lot of other committees and personal connection to Student Life would help her lead. She won the election.

Finally, the last piece of business for the evening was the election of the UPUA representatives on the Student Fee Board. Sean Terrey and Noah Robertson won those seats.