About 15 graduating seniors applied for the Young Alumni Trustee (YAT) position, according to Ashley Perzyna, assistant chief of Staff and assistant secretary of the college, which keeps this year’s applicant pool on trend with past years.

“Each year…we have received between approximately 10-20 applications for the Young Alumni Trustee position. The number of applications this year is consistent with this trend,” said Perzyna. “The applications this year are very strong…. We are pleased with the quality of applicants for the position.”

Applications for the sixth YAT were due on Jan. 31 and will be reviewed by an on-campus selection committee. This committee then sends the finalists to the Committee on Trustees, the committee that is charged with the selection of members. One candidate is selected and voted on by the full Board of Trustees. The newly elected YAT is then kept confidential their name is revealed at commencement on May 23, 2016.

The YAT position was instituted by the Board of Trustees in the spring of 2011, and each graduating class has had one YAT elected to serve as a full-voting member of the Board of Trustees for two years. Laura Wilson ’11, Darrel Pacheco ’12, Andrew Chesley ’13, Margot Cardamone ’14 and Kayla Muirhead ’15 are the first five YATs to be on the board. Cardamone will finish her two-year term this May, and the incoming YAT will serve alongside Muirhead during her final year on the board.

“This position is meant to be a bridge between students and trustees,” explained Muirhead. “Margot and I are always trying to meet and talk to as many different students as possible to truly understand the campus atmosphere and be able to discuss it with the other board members in order to affect changes.”