Julia Cox ’23
Staff Writer
After an election between four qualified candidates, the first-year class president has been announced as Melinda Ximen ’23. A native of Cupertino, California, and potential economics major, Ximen has big plans for her first year as a member of Scripps Associated Students (SAS).
On why she decided to run for class president, Ximen cited her wish to get involved in the Scripps community.
“Running for first-year class president really let me meet a lot of new people, and even if I didn’t win, I still would’ve had the experience of talking to people,” Ximen said.
Ximen’s interest in politics and government began in high school after working at a non-profit law firm for two years and a criminal defense law firm for one year. Ximen also took advantage of opportunities in high school to plan events and organized events featuring therapy dogs and cookie decorating. In addition to being a part of SAS, Ximen is currently a business manager for The Student Life newspaper and a member of the Claremont Business Group.
Ximen’s vision for her presidency emphasizes uniting Scripps students, especially first-years. So far, Ximen hopes to create a first-year class shirt and start competitions between the dorms, with a boba or pizza party for the winners.
“I know it’s hard for us to interact with each other once we get our friend groups, so I want to have everyone wear their class shirt on the same day,” Ximen said.
Another major goal of Ximen’s is to plan events for all first years at the 5Cs.
“It’s kind of hard to meet people at the 5Cs … so I want to do events that are for first-years to meet other first-years at different colleges,” Ximen said. Most importantly, Ximen will place feedback from students at the center of her presidency and work to include their thoughts in her decisions.
“I want to talk to Scripps students and ask them what exactly they want in this school year,” Ximen said.
When she’s not studying or at a SAS meeting, Ximen can be found watching movies or doing portrait photography.
“Even though I feel like my personality [is] pretty happy and carefree, I really like watching dark thrillers,” Ximen stated. “I like to read Wikipedia summaries of the movies before I watch them… I’m just spoiling the entire plot for myself, which is so weird,” she said.
Ximen also has experience with portrait photography, having done numerous solo and group portraits for prom and other events.
Ximen intends to plan events that people will attend, making communication with constituents a necessity. “If you have any ideas for what you want to see this year, feel free to reach out to me any time,” Ximen said.
Ximen’s goals align with the expectations of SAS, which state that that the purpose of the class president is to “unify their respective classes,” according to the SAS Constitution.
Ximen’s win demonstrates first years’ excitement about her vision.
10/10, Volume XXIX, Issue 2
