Sophomore Caucus: Satvik Agnihotri and Gitae Park

Record: 4

The Agnihotri-Park ticket has solid experience in student government, as Agnihotri was Freshman Caucus president last year and Park was a member of his cabinet. This experience should help cut out some of the “growing pains” that come with beginning a new term.

Campaign: 3.5

With an Instagram page of racked up followers and a well-functional website with a chat feature, Agnihotri and Park have developed a solid campaign.

Platform: 3.5

Boasting a variety of doable, though not outstanding, ideas, Agnihotri and Park have made promises which seem to improve sophomores’ school experiences while at home, highlighted by their “virtual study group” proposal.

Entering a school year with so much uncertainty surrounding how the administration will handle remote and blended learning, students must be able to receive clear communication from the administration on how they plan to run things. The Agnihotri-Park campaign promises to provide that link between the sophomore student body and the administration by building upon what they learned from their experience as part of the Freshman caucus presidency (with Agnihotri as president and Park as a cabinet member) and the relationships they made with faculty.

In addition to having already learned the ropes of being part of a caucus, Agnihotri-Park seems to have striked the perfect balance between ambition and impracticality, having put forth policies that are both helpful and very doable. These policies include a study group program, in which students can connect with others from their class and study together as they would in the library or cafeteria, somewhat fulfilling the social aspect lost in remote learning. The Agnihotri-Park ticket plans on collaborating with clubs when organizing events this year. For instance, they will split profits between the Student Union (SU) and clubs in events like a potential chess tournament in order to support clubs affected by budget cuts this year. They will also create a website, in which they will centralize important information from the administration and their own resources for the sophomore class.

One of the pillars of the Agnihotri-Park campaign is inclusivity. They plan to hold open caucus meetings for the sophomore class, welcoming any suggestions and ideas. “Just because you’re not in the caucus, doesn’t mean you can’t have good ideas. The underlying idea of the [open caucus meeting] policy is that we are open to your ideas; if you come to us with a good idea, […] then we will definitely act on it, because there’s no reason not to,” Agnihotri explained during their interview. The ticket will also designate a section on their caucus website to the collection of ideas from the sophomore class.

The organized policies, strong record, and familiarity with the nuts and bolts of running a caucus make the Agnihotri-Park ticket a solid candidate for this year’s race, especially in the age of remote learning. Thus, The Spectator is endorsing them for Sophomore Caucus.