2026 Student Union Endorsements

Johanna Li and Tenzin Chosang

PLATFORM: The Li-Chosang ticket emphasized their capability in enacting policies, such as a digital map of the school similar to the Clubs & Pubs Fair map. Furthermore, their plan to decrease food waste by making the cafeteria menu more easily accessible could prove to be an effective solution. While many of their policies seem to blend practicality and ambition, some are less impactful: their bell sound change policy relies on school-wide participation for a change that doesn’t appear to be extremely important to the student body. However, their plan to install colored printers in order to increase student productivity and provide access to printed materials is original and constructive, though securing funds is likely to be a challenge. Their proposed fundraisers and events are well-planned, and they assert a commitment to marketing each of their events, including a “sports fair” to encourage participation in sports teams.

DYNAMIC: Johanna Li (‘27) and Tenzin Chosang (‘28) met each other for the first time at SU cabinet meetings. The two are both highly dedicated to the SU and have leadership experience in their respective roles. Li served as co-president of the Freshman and Sophomore Caucus and is currently serving as the SU Vice President. Chosang is the current Sophomore Caucus co-president and served as the Freshman caucus secretary. They recognize that SU is a large team of students with diverse working styles, emphasizing the importance of understanding other people’s commitments and adjusting to them. Within the school community, Li and Chosang emphasize the importance of leadership that fosters collaboration, enabling them to listen and address the voices of the student body.

OVERALL REVIEW: Overall, Chosang and Li are backed by strong experience within the SU and having already established relationships with SU faculty. Although the ticket claims its vision is to highlight underrepresented clubs, none of their policies seem to address this issue. Their platform instead focuses on ambitious yet feasible policies and events that students have brought up to the pair. Their leadership styles complement each other well, making for a duo with obvious chemistry and the tools needed for successfully managing the SU. For these reasons, The Spectator endorses this ticket.

Mace Elinson and Sara Mostafa

PLATFORM: While the Elinson-Mostafa ticket has intriguing and promising policies, such as a DEI Board for Student Union (SU) and increased club support to foster inclusion and diversity in the school, many of their ideas appear vague and not well thought out. Furthermore, their events, such as the Prep Book Exchange and Supplies Drives, are reused from past SU tickets. Their platform document contains hyperlinks to a past ticket, suggesting that many of Elinson and Mostafa’s ideas draw heavily on those from previous years. Their addition of a Senior Sendoff candy sale, similar to Boograms, is interesting, but it is unclear as to how this event would generate revenue for the SU given that it would take place at the end of the school year. Ultimately, while some of the Elinson-Mostafa ticket’s ideas are compelling, many fall short as they are unoriginal or lack planning.

DYNAMIC: Mace Elinson (‘27) and Sara Mostafa (‘28) met each other the summer before Mostafa’s freshman year through a mutual friend. Elinson has served as Freshman Caucus and Junior Caucus Chief of Staff, an SU Budget member, and an SU Clubs and Pubs member. However, he was removed from his position as Junior Caucus Chief of Staff. Mostafa served as co-president of Freshman Caucus before stepping down toward the end of her term. The ticket hopes to use their different skill sets from their student government experience, like Elinson’s work with SU Clubs and Pubs, and Mostafa’s experience running events from Freshman Caucus, to work together.

OVERALL REVIEW: Overall, while Elinson and Mostafa both have experience in their grades’ caucuses and offer some promising policies, because of their direct reuse of past SU policies, vague ideas, and inconsistent experience, the ticket falls short. Thus, The Spectator does not endorse this ticket.

Ziling Liu and Horace Chen

PLATFORM: The Liu-Chen ticket platform can be summarized by their slogan—“We C and C.A.R.E about your success!”—which stands for “communication, clubs, academics, resources, and events.” While they have many initiatives outlined on their platform, their main ideas to address each of these topics are a bulletin board to increase transparency and club awareness, unlocking more rooms after school to make clubs easier to run, and creating anonymous Google suggestion forms so students can directly share concerns. Some of their initiatives are a bit more lofty, though, such as enforcing school policies such as the 30 minute homework policy. However, the ticket lacks of formidable ideas for fundraising beyond bake sales. They also want to lower the prices of ticketed events such as SING!, and prom, but their policies detail that they would find the funding to do so by hosting ticketed events, which feels counterproductive.

DYNAMIC: Ziling Liu (‘27) and Horace Chen (‘28) first met in 2024 during an interview to become a news reporter at New York Appleseed, a nonprofit advocating for equity in NYC schools. Since then, their collaboration has extended to working on and organizing events and projects together outside of school, such as a book drive, a lunar new year celebration, and a Chinese New Year parade. They emphasize that despite not having previous SU roles, their experience partnering to make these events possible is what fuels their even dynamic now, and will ensure their success in the future.

OVERALL REVIEW: Overall, while Ziling and Horace had a good dynamic and experience in organizing their own extracurricular events, their lack of previous SU experience led their platform to be somewhat broad and ideological. Their plans for fundraising are vague as well. Thus, The Spectator does not endorse this ticket.

THE SPECTATOR’S REQUEST FOR THE 2026-2027 PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT: 

We would like to see an increase in transparency and advocacy for the student body on issues which concern it. Students are often kept in the dark about matters that impact our school experience—for example, the Sophomore Bar is currently closed and there haven’t been any indications of when students may expect it to reopen. The Spectator requests that the president-elect communicates with the administration so as to best keep students informed of these issues, and that they actively reach out to the administration to make positive changes for the student body.