Senior Class President Aurelia Tan builds community, support with enthusiasm
The Student Government Association (SGA) Elections Commission released the Fall 2024 SGA Election results by email in September. We checked in with Aurelia Tan about her goals for the year as Senior Class President.
Photography by Sherry Chen/the Barnard Bulletin
Senior Class President Aurelia Tan pictured bottom right, with Barnard Student Governing Board members.
By Sofia Perlman
November 15, 2024
As Aurelia Tan (BC ’25) jumps into her role as Senior Class President, she places community and a sense of belonging at the forefront of her goals. Previously serving as Vice President for Equity and Representative for International, Transfer, and Commuter Students, Tan prioritizes improving the student experience. “What I’ve been doing on campus is to make sure that people feel like they belong, people feel like they deserve to be on this campus and that they’re seen,” she said.
Tan was originally motivated to run for Senior Class President because of her skill for event planning. In her past SGA roles, Tan honed her ability to plan events and use events as a way to build community. She said, “I really care a lot about my senior class because our [high school] senior year was COVID, and throughout our time here I feel like there hasn’t been enough class specific events and not a lot of class of 2025 community.”
Tan also hopes to expand alumnae involvement and bring more networking opportunities to the senior class while staying financially accessible to students. She wants to remind seniors of the administrators that are there to support and aid them. Tan is motivated to expand her community building efforts outside of Barnard. “I wanted to try to involve the local community more often and get people to be more involved with the surrounding community,” she said.
Since she ran unopposed, Tan did not run a formal campaign. Rather, she depended on word of mouth to spread her message. After her election, Tan dove into communicating with the senior class to share her values and reshape the way SGA interacts with students. “I really want to make sure that things are accessible and affordable for people,” said Tan. “My biggest goal on top of that is to have fun. Today, I sent out the second newsletter to the senior class and I got an email back saying ‘I never read these things but the way you did it was so fun, thank you for all the work you do.’”
Ultimately, Tan brings a sense of positivity to her new position, noting, “I’m really excited to build that community, learn who the seniors are and what they want, and try to serve them as best as I can.”