Rasha Elwakil Elected UPUA Student Body President
Rasha Elwakil was elected president of the 20th University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) assembly after election results came in Wednesday evening. Elwakil ran alongside Fletcher Port, and the pair won by 45 votes.
Elwakil and Port were opposed by the Mike Fowler and Ben Lindgren ticket and the Joshua Meert and Samuel Conway ticket. A total of 3,773 students voted in this year’s election, 163 fewer than in last year’s election.
Hailing from Westchester, New York, Elwaki is a junior majoring in geography with a minor in history and served as the vice president of UPUA’s 19th assembly alongside last year’s UPUA president, Zion Sykes. While serving as UPUA’s vice president this past year, Elwakil created the Accessibility Task Force to promote a more accessible experience and environment for all University Park students.
Elwaki has been involved with UPUA throughout her entire Penn State experience, starting with the first-year council, then becoming chair of justice and equity her sophomore year before taking on the role of vice president. Outside of UPUA, she’s involved in a slew of campus extracurriculars, including Lion Ambassadors, the Panhellenic Executive Council, Student Philanthropy Network, Presidential Leadership Academy, Trilogy, VALLEY magazine, and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
Port, a junior studying mechanical engineering, was born in Philadelphia and has lived in Annapolis, Maryland, the last several years. During his freshman year, he was an at-large representative, and by his sophomore year was the chair of campus operations, where he produced dozens of initiatives that improved campus infrastructure. This year, he served as the speaker of the assembly. In addition to UPUA, Port is involved with Lion Ambassadors, THON, and the College of Engineering.
Elwakil and Port will be sworn in on April 16, followed by the commencement of the 20th general assembly.
The following candidates were elected at-large and college representatives.
At-Large Representatives
- Grace Rothenberg
- Emily Milton
- Paige Rishel
- Lindsay Freedman
- Sua Kim
- Avery Landis
- Maguire Younes
- Dara Sedaka
- Judith Rojas
- Kaitlyn Ragucci
- Madar Samakab
- Kailei Hickey
- Sam Conway
- Carlos Bennetts
- Vel Shan
- Anish Amin
- Laura Ariza
- Ben Koleno
- Aiden D’Antonio
- Josh Meert
- Dawson Glogau
- Amaad Zaidi
College Representatives
College of Agricultural Sciences
Sarah Beaver
College of Arts and Architecture
Aradhana Sood
Bellisario College of Communications
Megan Soto-Benitez
Division of Undergraduate Studies
Savannah Klein
College of Earth and Mineral Science
Kat Hogan
Eberly College of Science
Josh Salinas
College of Education
Ayden Meise
College of Engineering
Catherine Counts
College of IST
Noah Youcheff
College of Liberal Arts
Michael Ferrick
Schreyer Honors College
Jude York
Smeal College of Business
John Papadopolous
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