Elon University’s Student Government Association appointed its vice presidents of communication and finance and elected the speaker of the senate at its first business meeting of the 26-27 term on April 9.
Candidates for vice president of communications and vice president of finance are selected through an internal application and interview process, unlike executive president and vice president, who are elected by the student body. Juniors Tyler Mastrangelo and Cayce Becker were chosen by executive president Michael Swartz and an advising board as vice president of communications and finance, respectively.
They both were appointed unanimously by the Senate.
After the meeting, Mastrangelo told Elon News Network he hopes to increase SGA’s visibility around campus and push communication through social media and other platforms. Mastrangelo has worked with current vice president of communications, Kennedy Steiner and current executive president, Anya Bratić, on her Instagram series, Anya’s Top 5, where she shares resources and events on campus.
“Social media is a big component of reaching people nowadays, but I also think there’s other ways that you have to address certain people,” Mastrangelo said in an interview with Elon News Network. “You can’t post a video and expect everyone to receive it the same way. Certain things like reaching students or reaching staff might need different approaches.”
Before being sworn in, College of Arts and Sciences senator Murphy Davis asked Becker how she planned to maintain positive relationships with campus organizations that request funding. After SGA changed its model for funding requests to a quarterly system in spring 2025, many clubs expressed frustration with the amount of funding they were able to receive.
“I think really making sure that I can build strong relationships with them and have communication,” Becker said. “While I wasn’t here this past year being abroad, I’m hoping to understand where that frustration was coming from and learning if certain events are specifically important, how can we support those differently?”
SGA also nominated and elected this term’s speaker of the senate, Ellie Agulnek. She is a junior class senator and spearheaded Outdoor Spaces, a project with the student outreach committee to bring outdoor furniture and lighting to the Danieley Neighborhood. The project, SB25-3.2, was passed in March 2025 and received an allocation of $55,000 from SGA, according to Agulnek.
As speaker of the senate, Agulnek wants to work with senators to develop their ideas and bring forward more projects and legislation to SGA meetings.
“Anything from small, bite-sized projects to those bigger projects in scope,” Agulnek said in an interview with Elon News Network. “I also want to work on expanding the mentorship within SGA. It’s something that has become really important and near and dear to my heart.”
After the vice presidents of communications and finance and speaker of the senate were sworn in, members of the executive council introduced themselves and gave brief reports to the senate. Swartz encouraged experienced SGA members to go out of their way to connect with new senators and familiarize themselves with their constituents.
He also proposed ways to keep the student body engaged with SGA, particularly with series similar to Anya’s Top 5.
In his report, Mastrangelo shared that across 14 episodes of Anya’s Top 5, the videos received nearly 100,000 views.
SGA currently has vacancies on the finance board, academic relations committee, students promoting inclusive excellence committee, student outreach committee, 1Phoenix committee and elections committee. They also need to fill the roles of assistant comptroller on the finance board, parliamentarian and pro tempore.
The next SGA meeting is scheduled for April 16.