From April 7-9th the 2025 Student Government Elections will be taking place, where four teams will be competing to represent the student body. The competing teams are: Phoenix, White Rose, Goatvernment, and 4U. The teams participated in interviews conducted by the IE Stork and shared their plans, goals, and values that they want to integrate into the Student Government. Their insights will be shared in the order of the interviews conducted.
TEAM PHOENIX
Representing renewal and resilience, team Phoenix aims to “Serve as a guide for the community whenever there are challenges, mindfully and with purpose”, shared Sofia Von Wachter Serfaty, the candidate for the president. The members of the team, Sofia, Alfredo, Dhruv, Inés, Ava, Iris, Paulina, and Oscar come from different backgrounds, have experience as officers in IE clubs, the Student Government, and have worked with different organizations within IE.
While they have goals regarding improvements in academics, community development, student experience, and diversity, equity and inclusion, according to Sofia, they also consider it important to “speak to people in person, and to really understand what their concerns are and what challenges they have had and so then adapt our proposals based on those conversations”. Some of the proposals are to refine thesis writing processes, organize pre-final well-being events, and provide comprehensive guides to the tools the university offers. The complete list of proposals is available on the official Instagram page of the team.
In addition to their goals, the team also focuses on the need to establish a clear and reliable point of contact with the student body. The candidate for the president mentions: “The current SG team has a really strong marketing presence, but I don’t think that they are a reliable point of contact for all students”. “We have good relationships with the University, and we have been in it for a very long time. We know what people to talk to when it comes to dealing with hardships”, mentioned the vice president candidate Alfredo Echeverria when asked about their strategy for negotiating difficult matters with the University.
Finally, when addressing the students, Sofia mentioned that “It’s important that they vote and understand why the Student Government is relevant, regardless of whether they agree with our campaign or not”.
TEAM White Rose
With four former SG members and four new members on the team, White Rose wants to keep the momentum going and keep the Student Government relevant. With genuine care in mind, Javier, Ilyssa, Fiona, Ander, Pacita, Shalom, Matias, and Sofia plan to democratize the Student Government program.
Having in mind a few plans, the team wants student voices to guide them. “The eight of us don’t know better than 7000 students, so we just want to ask them, what is it that you want to see next year in Student Government, we are ready”, mentioned the current SG president, Javier, when explaining their plan to interview focus groups and survey students to collect data to “involve students in the plans that the SG does”. “Proposals are dreams,… so you need plans”, said Javier, and according to their plans, they want to have bigger and better events, dissolve the Academics Committee, and reform financial aid. The complete list of their plans is available on the official Instagram page of the team.
Reflecting on the past year as a president, Javier shared insights on the challenges and learning points of the experience: “The SG as a whole is a volunteering job, it’s incredibly difficult to keep people motivated”. When talking about his experience running for the student government he stated: “I understand, because I was there last year, and so you propose big things, …and it’s just not realistic. I think some teams do it out of ignorance, … but there are also some other teams that knowingly overpromise”.
As a final remark, the SG president candidate mentioned, that “this year I’m graduating, … we believe the institution of Student Government wasn’t being maximized to its full potential, and so I just want, by the time I graduate, to get it as close as I can to that full potential”.
TEAM GOATVERNMENT
Our next team presents a younger demographic, with 2nd years dominating in the group. They call themselves goat, making allusion to greatest of all time.. Putting emphasis on transparency the team, Stefan, Michelle, Rebecca, Thalia, Penelope, Filip, and Chanel plan to utilize their action-oriented approach and unique structure to drive concrete and impactful change.
Stefan Simonov, the candidate for SG President, shared: “Currently, I don’t think there’s a good bridge between the Administration and the student voices”, which they plan to tackle through regular open meetings, and improving infrastructure. Other proposals include extending on-campus dining hours, hosting impactful events, and creating student-based mental health talks. Their team combines presidents, officers, and members from 16 clubs, increasing their connectivity with the university. The full list of proposals is available on the official Instagram page of the team.
Following up on the topic of transparency, the team wants to be transparent about their budget as well: “That is a lot of money, currently I don’t think it’s spent well… it’s the student’s money at the end of the day”, shared Stefan. Despite the impossibility of disclosing the SG budget, they believe a solution would be publishing clear monthly financial reports detailing budget allocation and expenditure. While they believe that the former SG did a “good job”, they believe that their advantage is “a really deep understanding of what the issues are and we are very open to continuously hearing out and being flexible with the changes that we make”.
The SG President candidate stated that “the missions that we (the team) have are very defined, so it’s not some broad or generic ideas”, and the plan is to foster community spirit, promote student well-being, increase academic flexibility, and champion diversity and inclusion.
TEAM 4U
With the idea to “make students the face of the student government”, team 4U combines fun, academics, community, and professionalism. The team, Ariadne, Berta, Maylis, Mimi, Miguel, Herman, Ishq, and Leon, come from different backgrounds and will include your ideas, in their mission, for you.
Their proposals vary from academics to student experiences, aiming to balance dual degree exam schedules, create an internship tracker for everyone, foster a sense of belonging across campuses, and organize events to improve the student experience. “We want to add opportunities for students to connect in different ways outside the academic side”, shared Ariadne, the candidate for SG President. Moreover, she believes that “Academics should not be stressful, but they should be supported” and their proposal suggests restructuring high-failure classes and establishing a universal exam model to tackle the issue. The full list of proposals is available on the official Instagram page of the team.
Referring to the activities of the past Student Governments, Ariadne states that “(They) Have had some very good initiatives, and that’s why our approach is to build on that…What my team would have done differently is we would have been more organized in terms of implementing these initiatives”. Moreover, she shares that she’s aware of the challenges in negotiations with the university and believes the right approach is to be proactive, which is why they plan to “submit all of our plans by the end of this academic year, so we can proactively negotiate for things we are going to deal with next year”, adds the candidate for SG President.
Finally, Ariadne shared: “This has been an amazing journey… We really received so much support from the student body, both in Segovia and Madrid, and it’s been amazing to be working on this.”
The Student Government plays an important role in the students’ social and academic life. Although the SG cannot create changes, they can suggest them and contribute to their implementation. This year’s election campaigns and proposals have been exceptional, showing the dedication and effort the IE students put to improving the students’ experience and academic journey. Every vote counts, so vote wisely and from the bottom of your heart.
